The Calm Before The Storm
by SultryBookWorm
Summary: Hermione has been stuck in a miserable marriage for 12 years until someone from her past re-enters her life. Just when she thinks she might be able to be truly happy, everything gets ripped away from her. Rated M for in depth sex scenes, triggers, and violence. ****I do not own any of the characters, they belong to JK, I just borrow them to play with*****
1. Chapter 1

Twelve years had passed since the end of the Wizarding War. Twelve years since Harry Potter ended the life of the most evil wizard ever known, Lord Voldemort, fulfilling a prophecy that was created at his birth. Twelve years since the "Golden Trio" of Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and of course Harry Potter, were honoured for their roles in the war and became three of the world's most famous members of the wizarding community. Hermione had married Ron and accepted a high ranking position with the Ministry of Magic, while he was signed to play keeper for the Chudley Cannons, his dream since boyhood. Harry and Ginny married shortly after, Harry becoming an Auror and Ginny opting to stay home and start a family like her mother did. They all had what appeared to be happy lives with paths leading them to bright futures.

Hermione sat in her office looking out the window, reflecting. _ I can't believe it's been twelve years already._ She had just finished reading the article in the Daily Prophet about how today marked the twelfth anniversary of Voldemort's death. It was dark outside, as it often was when she finally left work, but tonight it was even later than usual. She would make some excuse to Ron when she made it home about piles of paperwork, despite knowing that she actually had an empty desk for once. He didn't need to know that. _Not that he would care in the slightest. _She mentally added. Ron had been forced to leave the Chudley Cannons after just two seasons due to an injury and never quite recovered from it. Not to mention the…estrangement...from Harry and Ginny, his own sister.

"I suppose I should head home and face the music." She said aloud to no one in particular.

Hermione never knew what to expect when she walked through the door of the flat her and Ron shared together. Would he be in an uncharacteristic good mood, or would she spend her evening walking on eggshells, cleaning up Ron's mess trying to avoid conversation. As soon as the door creaked open she could smell the booze and knew it would be the latter…again…

"Ronald? I'm home." Hermione shouted into the seemingly empty flat. Looking around she saw empty firewhiskey bottles littered the floor and a figure leaning in the doorway of their master bedroom in almost complete darkness. Slowly it stepped into the light of the living room. "Merlin! Ron you scared the hell out of me! What are you doing just standing there with no light on?"

"Don't ask me what I'm doing! What were you doing Hermione? You expect me to believe you've been at work all this time?" He said angrily, drunkenly staggering toward her. Hermione crossed her arms across her chest as if to protect herself from the onslaught she knew was coming.

"Yes I do expect you to believe that because that's where I was."

"Right. Until Midnight? Paperwork again? You really take me for a fool don't you?" He was coming closer to her and Hermione felt the door against her back. She hadn't even realized she had been backing away from him.

"Yes Ron. Paperwork. My job as assistant to the Minister for Magic does tend to come with a lot of it! I've never given you a reason not to believe that!"

"Oh really. You haven't? Maybe I should call up my best friend Harry, or better yet my little sister and ask them about that…oh wait, I can't since they're no longer in my life because of you!" Ron spat, his face turning red. Hermione could feel the angry tears behind her eyes and struggled to hold them in. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

"This again Ronald? It was not my fault what happened with Harry and Ginny! It's been nine years! Can't you just let it go?" She realized as soon as she said it that what she said was a bad idea.

"Let it go!" He roared. "You just expect me to let it go that while I was out getting physiotherapy for my quidditch injury, trying to save my career, my whore of a wife was trying to sleep with my best friend? My best friend who is married to my sister, that same wife's supposed best friend?!" He was inches from Hermione's face now, screaming and spitting and all she could smell was the alcohol on his breath.

"Ron…" She tried to squeak out her voice sounding much smaller than she would have liked. The tears were coming now and there was no stopping them. She wished she wasn't so weak. "We have gone through this over and over again…you know that isn't what happened. You really have to believe that!"

"Yeah, but see I don't believe it Hermione. I don't believe that my best friend, the boy who fucking lived, the guy who walked into a forest prepared to die at the hands of Voldemort to save the wizarding world, would come into MY home and try and seduce MY wife. How the hell did you think I would believe that crock of shit!"

"Because it's the truth!" She screamed at him. She was sick of having this same fight when Ron was drunk and feeling melancholy, which she reminded herself was almost nightly these days. "I never wanted Harry! I only ever wanted you! How you can't see that I'll never understand Ronald but it was ALWAYS you! Harry was my best friend too! Do you not think I miss him and Ginny? I am Godmother to James and I will never see him again! Do you really think I am such a selfish heartless bitch that I would try and destroy their marriage and their family let alone my own?"

"I don't know how you did it or what your thought process was! All I know is I walked in and he was on top of you kissing you! As you know I left before I could see anything else!"

"Had you stayed you would have seen me shoving him off! You would have seen me hex him and scream and yell at him too! But you never stayed long enough to find out the truth! I have told you this I don't know how many times now Ron! He came here after a night of drinking with his auror buddies and confessed some sort of undying love for me and when I tried to tell him to sod off and go home to his WIFE he tried to climb on top of me. That is the part you walked in on before you ran off to get pissed at the bar! Before you went and told Ginny what you THOUGHT you saw happening. If you want to blame someone for not having your sister or your best friend in your life, blame yourself! I sure as hell do!" She had never gone that far before but she had had enough. There were only so many times she could have the same exact argument. There was only so many times she could hear him call her a homewrecking whore before she snapped… WHACK! All of a sudden her left cheek and eye were throbbing. Ron had done the unthinkable. He had backhanded her across the face and she could already feel his handprint swelling and bruising.

"Hermione…I…"

"Save it Ron!" She said holding her face in one hand and holding him away from her with the other. Without another glance at him she turned tail and walked back out the door of their flat, leaving him calling her name into the darkness.

Hermione wandered the streets of London, her tears dried to her face, a concealment charm hiding the bruising, trying to think of somewhere to go that wasn't home. She ended up at a park bench somewhere in the muggle part of the city and just sat there, thinking about her life and what had become of her marriage, the realization washing over her that she had no where to go, no friends whose doorstep she could arrive on with her bags packed if she left Ron. The tears flowed again and she let them fall unabashedly to the ground as she cried for everything she once had. It hadn't always been awful with Ron. She remembered their first two years of marriage when they were happy. Sure Ron had his issues with having lost his brother to the war, and everything he had seen, but for all intents and purposes they had been happy then. She remembered him carrying her over the threshold on their wedding night and how they had made love for the first time, being able to say they were each other's firsts. She remembered the conversations they had about starting a family of their own, and the plans they had made. Work for a couple years, save enough to buy a bigger house in the country where Ron could teach the kids to play quidditch out of sight of prying muggle eyes, but as Ron got more famous with the Cannons, and was away more he started to become increasingly distant. Hermione wondered if there was truth to the many stories she heard about what happened on those trips, but always wanted to believe in Ron's fidelity. Then the injury happened and he became moody and depressed. Focused solely on physiotherapy and trying to get his career back despite being told he may never be able to play professional quidditch again. They were already struggling by this point before what perhaps should have been the nail in the coffin of their marriage, the night with Harry. That was also when Ron's heavy drinking started. After that Hermione made sure to secretly cast contraception spells on herself so there could be no chance of accidentally bringing a child into the mess that was their lives.

As the sun began to rise over London, Hermione silently dried her eyes, cast a charm to make herself look more presentable and made her way to work early. It was only 6am when she arrived at her office. She was three hours early. She looked at the telephone sitting on her desk and noticed the flashing red light. She cursed herself inwardly for helping the office learn to use some muggle technology, knowing there was probably an entire inbox worth of messages from Ron waiting to be heard. With a sigh she picked up the receiver and punched in the passcode for her extension. She had been right. They were all from Ron. Messages saying he shouldn't have done what he did, messages begging her to come home, messages saying he couldn't stop picturing her in bed with another man if that's where she was, and finally a rather calm message swearing that he would quit drinking and would do what it took not to lose her. Hermione deleted them all and leaned back in her desk chair.

_It's not like I have anywhere to go anyway. My parents were found and murdered by Voldemort, my best friend thinks I'm a slut who wants her husband, my other best friend is the reason the former believes that, and everyone else from Hogwarts that was my friend has either moved on, or died in the war. I made a commitment to this man, and he's really all I have. Maybe he actually will quit drinking this time. _A part of her chastised herself for being so pathetically naïve, but the other part, the steadfast stubborn part, reminded her this is the bed she made and she now has to lay in it.

At 8:30 Hermione double checked her concealment charm was still hiding the bruising on her face and began the process of starting her day. She reviewed her day planner and checked on appointments that she had, as well as any appointments the Minister had in case she needed to remind him. Everything looked pretty standard, one meeting with all of the department heads in the morning for both her and Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic, and then one appointment for just him in the afternoon. All it said was "Meeting D.M. 12:30pm. Undisclosed location." _That's odd, _she thought to herself, _normally I know exactly who and where the Minister sees and goes. _She put it out of her mind, stood up, smoothed her skirt and prepared to walk to the Department Head meeting. She thanked Merlin that Harry had never made it to be head of the Auror Department. Not because she didn't want her former friend to succeed, but because she just couldn't take the awkwardness. She had somehow managed to avoid him for the past nine years, and she planned to keep it that way, especially if there was any hope of salvaging the rubble that was her marriage.

The meeting went off without a hitch, leaving Hermione in a much better mood than she started the day with. She even decided to walk over to the deli across the street to grab some lunch and a coffee. Normally she was the type to not be able to eat when she was upset so she mentally patted herself on the back for at least doing that simple thing. She had completely forgotten the strangely vague appointment the minister had over lunch and sat at her desk eating her sandwich and drinking her black coffee. She had just finished eating when she heard a knock on her office door.

"Come in." She answered sitting up properly in her desk chair. Kingsley walked in smiling.

"Hello Hermione, I hope we didn't interrupt you. I just wanted to introduce…well re-introduce as the two of you did know eachother once upon a time…" It was as if Kingsley had just remembered something unpleasant and wasn't sure how to continue his sentence.

"Um, Kingsley? Are you planning on actually telling me who this mystery person is or should I commence twenty questions?" She said jokingly. Thankfully with all their history with the order, she and Kingsley were not just colleagues but friends and she could tease him in moments like this.

"Right, sorry, so we had to hire someone to consult on some Ministry business, overseas co-operation and the like, and well…" Just then someone appeared from behind Kingsley and strode up to Hermione with his hand out to shake. Hermione stood frozen. Blonde hair, grey piercing eyes, skin that was barely darker than a sheet of paper. She definitely knew this person and now completely understood Kingsley's earlier hesitation.

"Draco Malfoy." Hermione practically spat as she stiffly shook his hand.

"Come on Granger, you can't be THAT upset to see me after all these years." His voice had lost some of it's youthful arrogance and condescension.

"I never said I was upset Mr. Malfoy, I am just surprised that someone as important as Minister Shacklebolt could possibly have use for someone like you." She knew it was unprofessional, she knew she shouldn't have said it, but at this moment in time she could not have cared less.

"Someone like me? Frankly Miss Granger I don't think you know anything about me. Or are we exclusively going based on the prat I was at Hogwarts? People do change you know." Despite her insult he seemed calm, collected but still oddly polite.

"First of all Mr. Malfoy it is not Miss Granger, but Mrs. Weasley," She put particular emphasis on the Mrs. "And secondly you were more than just a prat and I have yet to see a serpent change its ways." Hermione felt his eyes linger on the left side of her face and silently prayed that her concealment charm hadn't worn off. She had forgotten to reapply it when she returned from the Deli and they only last so long. His eyes lingered too long to have not seen anything and she saw something flash in his eyes but as quickly as it was there, it was gone.

"I will prove to you Mrs. Weasley that it can and has been done. You'll have plenty of time to see that since we will be working in close proximity now that I am consulting with Minister Shacklebolt. I must be going now however. As always, a pleasure speaking with you…" He paused and winked as he turned to walk away "Hermione." And then he was gone. All that was left of him was (and Hermione hated to admit it) a faint but very pleasant cologne smell and she had to admit she was thankful at least that he hadn't said anything about the bruise.

"Well…that was marginally more pleasant than I predicted that going." Kingsley said sitting across from Hermione at her desk.

"Yes, well…Kingsley you could have WARNED me! Draco Malfoy? Of all people to hire it had to be Draco Malfoy?!" She exclaimed while silently praying that Kinglsey wouldn't notice what Malfoy clearly had, the Minister wasn't always the most observant of men so there was a chance she might be able to get away without him seeing it and recast the charm as soon as he left her office.

"You're right, I should have. I'm s-." And he stopped, his face morphing into a look she had never seen on his face, a contorted blend of anger and concern. "What the hell happened to your face?!"… He noticed. And he knew full well what had happened but he was waiting to hear it from her.

"Nothing. I tripped and fell last night. It was dark and I went to get a glass of water and tripped on the edge of a rug, that's all. It looks worse than it is." She lied. His facial expression didn't change and she knew he could tell that she wasn't being honest with him, but he didn't press the issue.

"Okay, well use Lumos next time." That was all he said before leaving her office mumbling something about important things to attend to. Hermione felt awful. She had just lied to someone she had never in her life thought about lying to especially about something like this. Was she becoming one of those women? A woman that lies about her abusive husband and keeps believing he will change? She reminded herself it was only once, in the heat of the moment and that that did not an abusive husband make, and ignored the voice in her head telling her she was being naïve again. She went back to her work and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach.

At 5:30 that evening, Hermione decided to leave work for the day and head home. She had called Ron an hour before to let him know that she was coming home and was surprised to find that he sounded sober. _Maybe, _she thought as she arrived at their flat, _he really was serious and things can actually get better. _ She took a deep breath and opened the door to the flat. She was shocked to hear soft music playing, and instead of the smell of alcohol, she smelled something delicious cooking. She noticed the lights had been dimmed and the dining room table had candles lit. She kicked off her shoes and went in search of Ron and found him in the kitchen wearing an apron working hard on what appeared to be her favourite dinner. Roast beef with homemade Yorkshire pudding. She wrapped her arms around his back.

"Hello gorgeous." He said turning around in her arms.

"Hello back." She said smiling cautiously. She watched his eyes search her face and she knew exactly what he was looking for.

"Concealment charm?" He asked quietly his face turning solemn.

"Yeah." She cast her eyes down at the floor until she felt a hand gently tip her chin up. Her honey brown eyes met his deep blue and for a moment she was sure she saw the old Ron.

"Hermione I really am sorry. I should never have done that to you. No woman ever deserves that. I promise I will never do anything like that to you again." He kissed her lips and pressed her body against his. It felt like the first year they were married again. Hermione knew of course that it wasn't and everything had changed, but for now he was here and sober and this was the first time in many months that they had come close to anything resembling intimacy and so she decided to ride the wave as long as she could. "Come on, dinner is ready." He said smiling and leading her to the dining room. He pulled out her chair and pushed it back in when she was seated, he served the food on their good wedding china, and when they were done he cleared the table and did the dishes. While he was busy, Hermione slinked off into their bedroom, cast a contraceptive charm, and slipped on lingerie she hadn't even touched in over a year. If Ron was going to make an effort, she would too and she climbed up into their king size bed and waited, right in the middle of it.

"Hermione? Where'd you g-" Ron stopped mid-question as he found his wife waiting for him in their bed. She smiled shyly at him.

"I thought I would do something for you since you went to all this trouble for me."

"I wanted to show you I was serious."

"And I wanted to show you I believe you." She said watching him as his eyes roamed her body hungrily. Ron climbed into the bed and began softly kissing Hermione's neck. She let her eyes close and her mind drift. She once again thought of their first night together, all fumbling hands and inexperience but happier than she had ever felt. She felt her skin getting goosebumps as Ron's familiar hands caressed the skin of her inner thighs, his lips on her neck, her chest, his tongue trailing circles around her nipples through the lacy fabric of her negligée. She arched her back pressing herself into him a soft moan falling from her lips. She had forgotten how well they had gotten to know each other this way. It had been so long since Ron was sober enough to have anything other than sloppy, obligatory on Hermione's part, drunken sex and she was determined to soak up every second of it. She cleared her mind of anything but the two of them as Ron slowly entered her first with one finger, then two, curling and pumping in and out while her nails scratched his back, pulled his hair, and she moaned with pleasure. Just before she reached the edge he entered her and she wrapped her legs around him pulling him in deeper as she exploded around him. Hermione swore she stars as her orgasm washed over her in waves while Ron kept going, until he finally finished, collapsing gently on top of her. They slept as they landed that night. A tangled mess of limbs, and when Hermione awoke to go to work the next day, she found herself smiling like a kid on Christmas. The mood shattered slightly when she looked in the mirror and found the giant hand shaped bruise, but she cast her concealment charm, and went about getting dressed, determined to continue in her good mood.

Hermione walked into her office smiling and cheery and almost didn't notice a blonde haired someone sitting on the edge of her desk.

"You're chipper this morning." Draco Malfoy said smirking. Hermione jumped a little at the sound of his voice.

"What are you doing in my office?" She asked with narrowed, suspicious eyes.

"Well, I got here early for my meeting with Kinglsey and thought I would see if you wanted a coffee or something?"

"Why, so you can poison it and rid the world of one more trumped up mudblood?" She saw him flinch at her words which she found surprising but it didn't make her regret her decision to say them. After everything he had put her through in the past, and everything that happened at his manor…she wouldn't think about that last part, but he definitely didn't deserve her kindness, let alone any kind of polite conversation.

"Is that really what you think of me Hermione?" He sounded hurt, his voice was quiet and not the arrogant Draco she knew.

"It's how I knew you for years Draco. You hated me remember? You became a death eater. You believed muggle-borns were a scourge and a waste of magic, or am I wrong?"

"No. You're not wrong, but I was. I was just repeating whatever drivel I heard at home. I was an arrogant, pompous prick and as for being a death eater, I never actually wanted to be. I wanted to please my family by joining up and to regain some of the favour with Voldemort that my father had lost. It wasn't until…you know what I don't really need to explain all of this to you. If you hate me that much I doubt I can really change your mind to begin with. Who would have thought Hermione Granger, Weasley, whatever you go by now would be so closed minded to the idea that people can change." He started to leave and Hermione thought about the blind faith she was putting in her husband despite him having hit her, and his drunken behaviour prior. Maybe she was being too hard on Malfoy. It had been over a decade after all.

"Malfoy….Draco….wait." She said touching his arm gently to stop him from leaving her office. "I'm sorry. You're right. People can change. You don't have to explain to me why you did, but if you ever want to, I would be willing to listen."

"Thank you. Maybe one day I will take you up on that. For now, a peace offering. What do you take in your coffee?" He said with a half-smile.

"Just black. Thanks Draco."

Draco returned ten minutes later with three coffees in hand. One for himself, one for Hermione and obviously one for Kingsley. He handed Hermione hers, smiled and walked away to meet the minister. Hermione settled herself behind her desk and began sifting through her work for the day and pushed the weirdness of nice Draco Malfoy out of her head so she could focus. She worked quickly so she could once again leave on time to get home for dinner. Her stomach had butterflies, she was hoping she would once again walk in to a happy and sober Ron. She really wanted to believe him when he said he wanted to change, and the only way she could do that was to give him the continued benefit of the doubt that he was telling the truth. She pushed away her anxiety and walked purposefully to her car and drove home.

Hermione walked in the door to her flat and took note. Still no alcohol bottles, smell of food cooking, and the house still clean. She took off her shoes and hung up her purse before walking into the kitchen. There was Ron once again in his apron, cooking. She slipped her arms around him from behind and felt him jump a little before relaxing in her arms.

"I didn't think I was that quiet coming in." She said with a small giggle. "I hope I didn't scare you."

"A little." He said smiling. "How was your day?"

"Oh the usual. Paperwork piles a foot high. There was an odd development though, Draco Malfoy is apparently Mr. Nice Guy now." She saw Ron's back tense and hoped she hadn't set him off. She knew how vehemently he hated "The Ferret" as Harry and Ron always called him.

"When did you see Ferret boy?" Ron asked through clenched teeth.

"Kingsley hired him to consult on something, I'm not overly sure what. He was waiting in my office this morning to see if I wanted a coffee. He's trying to prove to the world that he's changed I guess." She shrugged her shoulders. "It's not really a big deal Ron. Maybe he has changed, people do do that from time to time you know." She knew the last part might have been a little pointed but if Ron noticed, he didn't say anything.

"I don't like the idea of a Malfoy buying my wife coffee…" Ron said, clearly unimpressed with the situation.

"It's just a coffee from a colleague Ron, it's not a big deal. Anyway, new topic. How was your day? I see you've been busy cooking what appears to be a yummy seafood linguine."

Ron smiled. "Yeah I went shopping and bought all the stuff for it. I uh…also called around for some support groups both wizarding and muggle…to deal with ya know…the drinking." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't want to lose you Hermione."

She hugged him and burrowed her face in his neck. "I'm here Ron and I'm not going anywhere. I'm proud of you."

"I love you Hermione." He said kissing her forehead.

"I love you too Ron. I'm going to go get changed for dinner."

Hermione went through her drawers trying to find something cute to wear and settled on an old muggle band t-shirt and her favourite pair of dark denim skinny jeans. She knew they made her backside look perfect and that Ron would appreciate the view. She couldn't believe that she could go from contemplating leaving him, to his complete 180 degree turn around in a matter of a day or two. She was still skeptical, but she was also in love with Ron and wanted it to work. When she walked back into the dining room Ron was just setting their plates down. His jaw dropped to the floor when he looked over his wife.

"Can we just skip dinner and go right to the dessert?" He winked.

"I would say yes, but you worked so hard and frankly I am starving. It'll be worth the wait." She said winking back.

After dinner Ron carried Hermione to their bedroom where once again they made love, this time a little more passionately. Hermione even had to mend her shirt afterwards with a sewing spell. She still couldn't believe this was real, she had had so many miserable years with Ron's drinking that it was hard for her logical brain to believe her life could get this much better this fast. She laid awake long after Ron was snoring thinking about it. She couldn't help but feel anxious that this wouldn't last. The odds weren't in her favour, but as long as things were good, she would ride the wave and see where it took her.


	2. Chapter 2

Over the next couple of weeks Hermione began to feel less anxious about Ron going back to drinking. He had been attending weekly meetings, surprising her with little gifts or special meals when she got home from work and just being overall amazing to her. She was still casting contraception charms behind his back just in case, but she was really beginning to feel they were at a turning point in their marriage. Draco was continuing to bring her coffee every morning and making polite conversation and Hermione was slowly coming around to the idea that he was actually a decent person and worth getting to know again. He even made her laugh occasionally.

"Hey Granger." Draco said smiling as he walked in with her usual coffee order.

"Are you ever going to call me Weasley or should I just give up on reminding you?" Hermione responded reaching for the coffee cup.

"Probably not. Granger just sounds so much better than Weaselby…I mean Weasley." He was smirking. This wasn't the first time he had teased her about being married to Ron. Clearly that was one rivalry that would never die.

"Fine. Why don't you just call me Hermione then? Otherwise I could always start referring to you as Ferret instead of Draco." She winked. Draco feigned being seriously offended.

"How DARE you call me Ferret! That nickname is exclusively reserved for the boy wonder and his carrot topped sidekick….I mean your wonderful husband." Draco laughed until he released Hermione's face had fallen. "Hey I was only kidding. If it really bothers you my teasing you about Ron and Harry I'll stop."

"It isn't that…it's just…I haven't talked to Harry or even Ginny in nine years. Neither has Ron." Her voice had a hint of sadness to it.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know. What happened?"

"It's a rather long and complicated story. I'm sure it wouldn't really interest you much."

"How do you know? Maybe I like long and complicated stories. My wife Astoria talks my ear off with them all the time."

"It's not really work appropriate."

"So let's go for lunch and you can tell me. I have a lunch reservation that I can easily make for two."

"I don't know if that's appropriate either Draco."

"What's inappropriate about it?" Draco quirked an eyebrow. "I'm asking you to lunch not a strip club. Unless of course that's your thing?" He smirked.

Hermione laughed and smacked him playfully on the arm. "Of course it isn't my thing! And I don't know, we're both married, isn't going to lunch together somehow….wrong?" She was blushing a bit Draco noticed.

"Married. Not dead. And we are friends. Friends can go have a work lunch you know. I'm not going to pounce you in the restaurant or something if that's what you're worried about."

"Of course I didn't think that! And we're….friends?" Now it was her turn to quirk an eyebrow.

"I would say we are. Or are at least decent enough acquaintances to have lunch together. Relax Hermione. Come for lunch. The place I go has the best food in London, I promise." He held his hand out to lead her from her desk.

"Oh alright. It's just lunch I suppose." She led him lead her to the door as he opened it for her and guided her through.

"After you Mrs. Weasley." He said placing a hand on her back to guide her through the door. She had her head turned towards him laughing when she heard someone angrily clear their throat turning her attention forward again.

"Ronald? What are you doing here?" That was when she noticed he was holding flowers and looked furious.

"I should ask you the same Goddamn thing Hermione. Why does that Ferret have his hand on my wife!" Draco who had frozen somewhat in the shock of seeing Ron there and still had his hand on Hermione's back immediately dropped his hand.

"I was only being a gentleman Weasley, I was taking your wife out to lunch so she didn't have to eat alone in her office that's all. No need to get upset." Draco's voice was the cool, arrogance Hermione remembered from Hogwarts, only there was something underneath it that she couldn't quite place.

"I wasn't speaking to you Death Eater. I was speaking to my wife. Why don't you go back to whatever hole you slithered out of and leave us alone." Ron was practically shaking. Hermione knew this situation could escalate quickly if she didn't get Draco away from them.

"Draco, just go please, I didn't know Ron was coming so I'll just grab lunch with him. Thank you for the offer though." Draco quirked his eyebrow but nodded and began to walk away.

"Hit her again, and I'll break your arm." Draco whispered too quiet for anyone to hear but Ron as he strode past him without looking back.

"What did he just say to you?" Hermione asked terrified to know the answer.

"It doesn't matter it wasn't important." Ron replied shaking his head. "Listen, I'm really not in the mood for lunch. I think I'll just head home." He handed her the flowers. "These are to brighten up your office and here's the lunch I made," He passed her a brown bag with two sandwiches on Italian bread. "Give one away or whatever. I'll see you at home." He stomped off leaving Hermione standing there with the lunch bag and the flowers. She called after him but he ignored her and kept walking. Hermione went back to her office, sat down and ate the sandwich he made, trying to ignore the sinking feeling she was getting in her stomach.

For the rest of her day Hermione tried hard to focus on her work. Draco had come back to check on her but she just assured him that everything was fine and sent him away. He hadn't looked convinced but he honoured her wishes anyway and left her alone in her office. She left at her usual time and drove home dreading what state she might find Ron in but hoping and praying to Merlin that he would have just taken time to cool off and they could talk when she got there. She didn't fully understand why Ron had freaked out and not even allowed her to talk to him, but she also knew the history between him and Draco and why he didn't want to see them spending time together. She hoped he wouldn't see this as another Harry situation, but she also knew Ron, and knew that chances were she was heading home to a fight.

When she walked in the door of the flat the entire place stunk of fire whiskey and her stomach instantly clenched. Ron was definitely no longer sober.

"Ron?" She called out. No answer. "Ronald? Are you here?" She tried again and Ron came stumbling out of the bedroom.

"Yeah I'm here. Why were you hoping I wasn't? Planned to continue your little date with the Ferret? Is he hiding in the hallway waiting to see if the coast is clear?" He was flushed and clearly completely wasted drunk.

"Of course not Ron! Why would you think such a thing? We're only work acquaintances and both of us are married. Please don't start this, we've had such a good few weeks!" She said it as calmly as she could but inside she was shaking. Despite the fact the bruising had healed and things had been great since, she realized a part of her was still afraid of him.

"You seemed a little chummier than just acquaintances Hermione." Ron countered. Hermione hadn't even made it fully into the flat, and this was starting to remind her far too much of the last big fight they had. Ron had stumbled close enough to her to touch her, and she had nowhere to move if he decided to become physical again.

"Ron I swear to you, there is nothing to worry about between Draco and I! I need you to believe me!" She was pleading with him now, hoping he would calm down and see reason despite his current state of mind.

"First name terms with the Ferret…first my best friend now my worst enemy. Do you have any self respect?" His voice was raised now. Of course he would bring Harry up now, it was Ron's way. Go right for the jugular.

"Ronald, I am not doing this with you again. I told you that after the last time. Nothing ever happened with Harry and nothing is going on with Malfoy. I don't know what to say to make you understand that."

"If he's working there, I don't want you to. You should just quit, there's other places that'll take you."

"That is completely ridiculous. How would we pay for this place then?" She was getting angry now, she could feel her face turning red. "It isn't like you've worked a day in the last nine years! I worked hard to get where I am and I refuse to quit my job because you are so insecure!" Ron was inches from her face now.

"I am not insecure. I just don't want a whore for a wife that wants to fuck her way to the top!" He roared.

"How dare you!" She yelled back and before Hermione knew what she was doing she had slapped Ron hard across the face. She pulled her hand back and started to apologize but never got the chance. Ron had grabbed her and thrown her to the ground.

"How dare I? How dare you think it's okay to hit me! I'm the man here!" And he punched her square in the jaw.

"Ronald stop! I…"

"You what? Didn't mean to? Didn't mean to what? Cost me my best friend!" Shot to the ribs. "Lose me my only sister?" Shot to the stomach. "Or have some sort of disgusting affair with a Death Eater?!" He screamed the last part as his other fist connected with her eye socket. Hermione was sure she should be in agony but she was too shocked to even register the pain. Tears were streaming down her face and she didn't even try to stop them. A part of her wanted to run. Pack her bags and get out and go anywhere, a park bench had to be better, but she knew she didn't have anywhere to go long term and the weakest part of her knew she would just be right back here anyway. _If I hadn't slapped him he wouldn't have gone off like this. _She thought to herself as she laid on the floor sobbing. _This is all my fault. I'll just try and stay calm next time and maybe things will be okay. _She heard the door slam and realized Ron had left. She didn't know where he was going and at that moment she really didn't care.

Hermione laid on the floor not moving for what felt like an eternity, but in reality was only about fifteen minutes. She slowly pulled herself up, finally feeling the damage Ron had inflicted upon her. Every part of her torso and face was swollen and sore and she was fairly certain he may have cracked a rib. She carefully moved her way to the spare bedroom, which conveniently had a lock on the door so guests would have privacy, and locked herself in. She sobbed into the pillow until she finally fell into a fitful sleep.

Hermione got up early the next morning and tried to shower as quietly as possible so she didn't wake Ron up. He must have come home sometime after she had fallen asleep since he was passed out in their bedroom. She quietly got ready, cast concealment charms all over her and left for work. She arrived an hour and a half earlier than she needed to but that was fine by her. She just wanted out of the house and away from Ron. She laid her head on her desk and thought about her situation. She couldn't leave Ron, she was afraid he wouldn't let her anyway, she had no friends to confide in, she was utterly alone. Tears started rolling down her face. She heard her office door creak open and slowly lifted her head.

"Hermione?" It was Draco, presumably come to bring her morning coffee. She didn't respond. He was coming into her office anyway and would see her looking like a sobbing mess in a few seconds and she didn't know if she would be able to stand the embarrassment. "I have your coff-" He stopped when he caught sight of her. "Merlin's beard are you alright?" He quickly strode over to her desk placing the coffee down and taking a seat in front of her so as not to crowd her.

"No…I mean I will be…I don't know…" And she collapsed into tears again. Draco swiftly moved around her desk and wrapped his arms around her trying to comfort her.

"It's the weasel isn't it? What did he do this time?" He released her and crouched down holding her hand. She could hear the anger in his voice and decided it would be best to try and lie her way out of it. She had done a good job of concealing her wounds and he had already seen them once. She didn't want him to know what was being done to her.

"Nothing, I'm just upset. We got in a fight last night and things were said. It's okay I'll be fine." She tried to crack a smile. Draco didn't look convinced.

"Look I didn't say anything before because we weren't on any sort of friendly terms yet, but I saw the mark on your face the first day I came into this office. If he's hitting you…" He stopped waiting for her response.

"No, no" She lied. "I fell, just like I told Kingsley after you left when he saw it. I went to get a drink and it was dark and I tripped over an area rug. Ron doesn't hit me." She heard herself telling the lie and felt disgusted. She was lying to protect a man who was hurting her.

"Hermione you can tell me the truth you know."

"I am. I'm clumsy. Please, don't worry about me okay?" She said it a little more pleadingly than she would have liked but she needed him to stop caring so much otherwise she would break down and tell him everything.

"You know I don't believe you, but if this is your story and you're sticking to it, I guess I'm forced to try." He released the hand he had been holding and stood up to walk away. "But Hermione, if he is, you really should tell someone even if it isn't me." And he walked away closing her office door behind him. Hermione dissolved into tears again. _What kind of world am I living in where my own husband is beating me up, and Draco Malfoy is the one that cares? _She thought to herself as she tried to pull herself together to face the day.

At the end of the day, Hermione decided it was a better idea to go home on time to face the music than come home late. Ron was passed out on the couch with a bottle in his hand. She tip-toed past him and once again locked herself in the spare room and just went to bed. She was too exhausted to do anything else. She slept, but had nightmares of Ron beating her. She kept seeing his face contorted in rage as he screamed at her between punches and she tossed and turned restlessly.

Over the week she avoided Ron as much as possible and just kept telling Draco that she was fine. Everything was great, she and Ron had worked it out. She left the house early and came home late so she could avoid Ron. Most nights he was passed out drunk long before she got home anyway. Her bruising was starting to go away and she could move without a sharp pain in her ribs so she considered that an improvement. When the weekend hit, Hermione could no longer use work as an escape. She decided to make the most of things with Ron, maybe do something to keep his mind of drinking and she might be able to catch a glimpse of the Ron she had seen when he was sober for those few weeks. She got up early Saturday morning and went and snuck into their bedroom to get dressed.

"Ron?" She gently nudged him awake.

" 'Mione?" He mumbled half sleeping still.

"Yeah Ron it's me. I thought maybe we could do something today? Together?"

"I thought you were gone…I thought you had left me that's why you were in the spare room." He sounded sad. She tried to force some sympathy even if it was fake.

"No, I just needed some space but I'm here. Why don't you go shower and get dressed and we'll go out."

"Okay, we can do that. I'll be ready in ten minutes. And whether you believe me or not I am sorry."

"I know Ron." She lied. She knew now that he wasn't truly sorry, he just was trying to assuage his guilt. There was a pretty good chance if she set him off again, he would do it again. She was just going to have to keep her own temper in check and not set him off that's all.

Hermione spent the weekend keeping Ron busy and away from alcohol. They went and shopped at the local market for groceries, saw a movie together, went wandering around the mall, picnicked in a park, anything that wasn't sitting around at home, or somewhere that served liquor. Hermione felt both happy that they had a good weekend together with no fighting, but also sad that she knew once she went to work on Monday it probably wouldn't stay that way.

"Hermione?" Ron was trying to get her attention. They were sitting on the couch watching a movie and she must have zoned out.

"Hmm?"

"You're not going to leave me are you?" His voice sounded small. Weak even.

"No Ronald. I'm not. Where would I go?" She hadn't really meant to add the last part but it sort of slipped out anyway.

"I don't know. You make all the money. I'm sure you could afford something."

"Maybe, but I haven't really thought about it." She lied. "We're doing good right now so I don't know why you think I would leave."

"I know what I did, and it makes me sick. I don't do these shitty things when I'm sober. I'm going to get sober again. I promise." She squeezed his hand.

"I know you will." _But for how long next time? _She thought.

"You didn't have to pick up lunch and bring it to my office you know." Hermione was looking down at a plate of Spaghetti Bolognese with fresh parmesan cheese and a homemade garlic loaf.

"I know, but I never did get to take you to my favourite restaurant that day for lunch. I figured it was safer to bring lunch to you." Draco was beaming a smile at Hermione and she mentally noted how perfectly white and straight his teeth were. He actually had a very attractive smile. She mentally shook herself for thinking anything about Draco was attractive.

"You're probably right." She laughed.

"How are things at home anyway?" Draco asked.

"They're okay. Haven't been fighting lately since that day so that's a start." She wasn't lying. Ron was back to trying to work it out again and not drinking. Hermione had decided that this time however she wasn't going to sleep with him right away or get her hopes up. She was taking her time to trust him, and after what happened that would take a very long time. "How are things with you and Astoria? I realize you've never told me much about her, or your life. We seem to always talk about me." She was subtly letting Draco know she didn't want to talk about Ron.

"Ah, well things are okay. My son Scorpious-"

Hermione cut him off by almost choking on a bite of bread, "Your what?!" Draco laughed lightly.

"Yes, my son. I have a son named Scorpious. He's 4. Quite a character. You may get to meet him one day if he comes to the office. Generally Astoria wants to stay as far away from any kind of work environment as possible so I doubt she would bring him here, but maybe one day I'll just bring him in to visit. Does it surprise you that I have a son?" He sounded a little bitter when talking about his wife, but his face lit up any time he mentioned Scorpious.

"It does a little. I just had no idea. We've been working together for a couple months now and I didn't even know that about you. Does he look like you?"

"He has my blonde hair, but Astoria's green eyes. I have a picture in my wallet if you would like to see?"

"Of course!" Hermione said excitedly. Draco pulled out his wallet and flipped to the photo holder. There were about five pictures of a beautiful little blonde boy with the brightest green eyes Hermione had ever seen. Even brighter than Harry's. She also noticed there were no pictures of his wife. Draco flipped through the pictures and explained each one. One was of him playing in the sand on a beach, another riding a bike, one of him playing in snow, and two that just looked like candid shots of Scorpious playing. In every picture he was smiling ear to ear and waving excitedly, or he appeared to be giggling. Hermione had always loved that wizard pictures moved. It was unique to be able to see how Scorpious behaved having not ever met him. "He's absolutely adorable Draco. He really does look like you though. Just the eyes are different."

"Yeah, he's pretty cute. And smart too. Like you were in school, just younger. He really likes books." He smiled at Hermione. She was a bit surprised that he had paid her a compliment about her intellect and love of books since he had teased her about it when they were younger.

"Well, I'm sure he'll be all ready for Hogwarts when he goes, given how smart his papa is as well." She watched Draco's cheeks redden with blush.

"You think I'm smart?" He asked almost sheepishly.

"Well, yeah…you're consulting for the Minister of Magic right now are you not?" She grinned at him.

"Yeah I suppose I am!" He laughed. Hermione noticed that it was a light sounding laugh, not too heavy or boisterous, just right. It was actually nice to see him this way after so many years of only knowing broody Draco.

"You know, you really are quite different. I'm glad I got to know you again. You really have changed."

"I told you I would prove it to you." He reached across the table to grab more parmesan for his pasta at the same time Hermione went to take a sip of her water and their hands brushed lightly. They lingered for a second and caught each other's eye. Hermione had felt it, a spark. Something she hadn't felt since she and Ron first were together and from the look on Draco's face she knew he did too. "So, anyway I was going to tell you something about Scorpious, what was I saying….oh right! He got a library card this week and he has already checked out four giant books. I swear I don't know where he gets it from but I figured that was probably what you were like as a kid so it was kind of funny." He sounded a little flustered but Hermione ignored it and just laughed lightly.

"That is exactly what I was like. I was always bugging my parents for more books." She still felt a twinge of pain when she spoke about her parents but she was able to just ignore it now that it had been so long. They finished the rest of their lunch in peaceful quiet just enjoying having company to eat with. When they were done, Draco cleaned up after them and headed back to his own office to meet with Kingsley and Hermione tried to finish her own work. Her mind kept lingering to how much she had enjoyed having lunch with Draco and how for one hour she wasn't thinking about everything with Ron. Maybe she finally did have a friend to talk to. Perhaps not confide in about this situation yet, but maybe eventually.

After work Hermione stopped at her and Ron's favourite takeaway and picked up dinner for both of them, and bought a movie they had been dying to see thinking they could have a movie night since she was in such a good mood. She wasn't expecting Ron to have been drinking again since he said he was going to a meeting a day to get on track, but he had been and he was very drunk by the time she got home.

"Where have you been?" He shouted the moment she stepped foot through the door.

"I stopped at Bob's Fish 'n Chips and got us some dinner and I also picked up that movie we had wanted to see." She held up the bags so he could see them.

"Why? It's a weeknight, we never do movies and takeaway on a weeknight." He sounded suspicious.

"I just thought it would be nice since we had such a good weekend together and to celebrate your going to the meetings again…" She let her voice trail off at the end since there was clearly no reason to celebrate.

"Yeah well clearly that's not gonna happen now." He said stumbling behind her as she went into the kitchen to put the food down and get plates. "What's the real reason, is this a guilt thing? Did you do something today that I should be aware of?"

"Ron, what are you talking about?"

"Something involving the Death Eater perhaps?"

"Besides lunch in my office talking about his wife and son and work things, no. And frankly I don't feel guilty for eating lunch with a colleague." Ron stormed past and grabbed the takeaway off the counter and threw it in the trash.

"You're trying to distract me from finding out the truth aren't you? You're sleeping with him!" He had her backed against the counter top. _Please not again. _She thought as he moved closer.

"Ron where is all this extreme jealousy coming from? You never used to be like this, even when you were drinking before. I just don't understand!"

"Well you're not fucking me anymore even when I've been being nice to you, so you must be out doing someone!" He yelled grabbing her wrists hard. She could already feel the bruises forming. Her bruises everywhere else hadn't even fully healed yet and she had a feeling they were about to get worse.

"Ron it is not like that. I was trying to build trust with you! The last time you were sober for a few weeks we rushed into things, I rushed into trusting you that you would stay sober and I shouldn't have! It isn't about anyone else it's about me not wanting to be intimate with someone I don't yet trust to not hurt me." She tried to be as calm as possible hoping he would let go of her and move away.

"I don't trust you either! I think you're whoring around behind my back with the ferret. You and him playing me and his wife…" He started shoving her towards their bedroom. _Oh no, no, no, no! Thankfully I'm good at wandless, speechless magic and can cast a contraception charm without him knowing just in case, but I pray I have not lost him to this extent, that he has not become this person! _She thought as she fought against him the entire way to their bedroom. He still had her by the wrists and she was much smaller than him. He pushed her down on the bed and started sloppily kissing her neck. "You are MINE!" He roared. "You will live to please only me, get it? I married you and I should be able to have you whenever I want whether you like it or not!" He was pressing against her and she could feel him getting hard. She wasn't even sure he could in the state he was in. Hermione was not about to let this happen.

"You're right Ronald, I'm sorry. Take me, I'm yours." She pretended to be into it trying to get him to release her hands. It worked and she was able to reach up towards the lamp and almost had a grip on it…

"What the hell are you doing?" Ron asked noticing that her hand was trying to reach the lamp.

"I…uh…was stretching my arm out, you had it held really hard and I was just stretching. Go back to what you were doing." She lied hoping it would work. She realized he had caught on as his fist collided with her face.

"You were faking it! You don't want me! You're probably wishing you were with him right now aren't you?" Ron roared striking the other side of her face. She needed to get away and she didn't know how she was going to do it.

"No Ron, I never wanted anyone else, only you! I wasn't faking, I promise!"

"You lying bitch!" He spat at her and punched her in her barely healing ribs. This time she knew for sure one was broken. His change in position from hitting her allowed her a bit more freedom to move and she was able to bring her knee up and hit him as hard as she could right between the legs. Ron doubled over and fell off the bed writhing in pain, and she took that opportunity to steal his wand off the dresser and put him in a full body bind.

With Ron temporarily paralyzed, Hermione grabbed her own wand and used spells to pack everything she owned into a small suitcase that she expanded like she had when they were hunting horcruxes. She didn't even leave so much as a slipper behind. She didn't yet know where she would go, but she knew it would not be with Ron, not even for one more minute. She tore off running out of the house with her suitcase in hand to her car and threw it in the trunk. She sped off as quickly as she could before Ron got out of the hex. She drove until she reached the outskirts of London and found a small motel where she could stay at least the night. Hermione cast the concealment charm she was so used to now and checked in. She would figure out the rest tomorrow but for now, it was a bed and it was far away from Ron.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: In response to the anonymous review mentioning that I made Hermione "pathetic" I would just like to explain the following: She has been isolated by Ron for over a decade, she lost most of her friends to the war, she has no family to turn to, and the constant stress of Ron's drinking has broken her down. Even strong people become broken sometimes, this does not mean she is pathetic it only means that she is human. **

Hermione arrived at her office an hour early, concealment charms in place and sat down at her desk. She had her wand up her sleeve in case Ron showed up and despite her best efforts to not cry at work, her tears were welling in her eyes as she looked down at the wedding ring on her left hand. She had just left the only man she had ever been with or loved in her entire life and all of her belongings were hidden under a protection charm in a motel. How had her life come to this? She didn't realize she had conjured birds, like she had the night Ron was kissing Lavender after quidditch at Hogwarts, until she heard Draco's voice in her doorway.

"Birds?" He asked. He sounded concerned, and not at all confused by their presence.

"Hmm? Oh!" She noticed them and waved them away. "I-I didn't even realize I had done that."

"Obviously something is bothering you. I remember you sitting with Potter and conjuring those same birds back at Hogwarts. I also remember you firing them at Weasley so clearly he had done something upsetting. This time I don't think I have to ask."

"How did you see…back then…?" She asked incredulously.

"Let's just say I was with someone…behind a tapestry….in that corridor…and leave it at that…" He smiled. It wasn't a proud smile or a showing off smile, but more sad. Like he was sad for her, but trying to not show it. "What's wrong Hermione?"

"I-I left Ronald." She almost choked on the words as she said them.

"You…left….Where are you staying? What happened? What did he do?" He fired questions at her without meaning to. She looked surprised at his questioning.

"I never said he did anything, I just needed to leave." Hermione's voice sounded weak and it made Draco that much more worried that he did something he wouldn't have done otherwise. He used his wand and speechless magic to simultaneously close and lock her office door and strip her of any concealment charm. What he saw in front of him made the hair stand up on his body with rage, and his eyes tear with caring for what she had been through.

"Merlin's bloody beard! You told me he hadn't hit you Hermione! This is not from clumsiness!" He kept the anger out of his voice as much as he could as it wasn't her he was angry with. It was Ron.

"I-I didn't want anyone to know! I thought he would change and I was stupid and it just got worse! He had never hit me before that first time that you saw and then he got sober for a while. I thought that was his rock bottom you know? And then the second time it was far worse but I didn't have anywhere to go so I just locked myself in the spare room until he was sober again on the weekend and kept him busy and he said he was going to daily meetings and things were fine…until I came home last night and…" She had dissolved into sobs. All the words had rushed out and now she was just huddled in on herself sobbing. Draco rushed to her side and wrapped her in his arms stroking her hair to comfort her.

"Hermione, I know it's hard but what exactly happened last night?"

"H-H-He accused me of sleeping with you and having an affair and then…"She paused.

"It's okay, you can tell me I promise. I'm your friend I'm here for you." Draco was still stroking her hair as he spoke. Hermione took a deep breath.

"He grabbed me and threw me down and tried to say I was his whenever he wanted because it was my job as his wife. I tried to hit him with the lamp and he caught me and that's why he beat me up, but I managed to get my knee up and while he was holding his crotch I used his wand to body-bind him so I could pack all my stuff and get out of there. You must think I'm so pathetic for staying after the first time..." She continued to sob into Draco's arms as he held her.

"I could never think that but I am going to kill him. I am really going to kill him. How dare he do this! And to someone as…" He paused and Hermione waited to see what he was going to say about her, but he never finished. "I'm going to fucking kill him." Draco was furious, and as much as Hermione found it a little frightening to see him this way, she also realized his concern for her was genuine and it made her feel, for the first time in nine years, like she wasn't totally alone.

"Draco please, just leave it be. I left, I'm safe, he doesn't know where I am staying and I will be consulting a lawyer to draw up divorce papers. I just need a friend right now." She had managed to stop sobbing and as beginning to calm down.

"Okay, I won't do anything drastic, but you're coming to stay with me in my London flat so I can at least keep you safe, where are you staying right now?" He released his grip on her now that she was calm.

"Oh Draco no, that's too much trouble. I'm just staying in a motel that I put protective enchantments around, I don't expect you to-" She never finished as there was suddenly banging on her office door.

"Open up Hermione! I know you're in there!" It was Ron and he was clearly still drunk and very angry.

"There is no goddamn way I am letting her open this fucking door Weasel. Leave her alone I know what you did to her!" Draco yelled back through the door. Hermione was shaking in fear so Draco pulled her into him again. "I promise to protect you, and I mean it. This is why you can't stay by yourself okay?" Hermione nodded. She felt bad accepting Draco's offer but she also didn't want to be alone if Ron found her. She was magically stronger than him but not physically, not by a long shot.

"What the fuck are you two doing in there with her office door locked? I knew I was right! You are fucking him you little slut! You fucking whore, I'll kill you!" Ron screamed through the door.

"No you are not right! You are not right about anything Weasel. The only reason I am in here is to protect her from you as her friend! And clearly she needs it since you're obviously a psychopath!" He yelled through the door. "Hermione, please can you cast your Patronus and send it to the security desk? We need to get him out of here so I can get you safe." Draco whispered so Ron couldn't hear. With all the banging and yelling he was doing he wouldn't have anyway, but Draco wanted to be safe. Hermione cast the Patronus and within seconds security was apparating to her office door and hauling Ron away. All the way down the hallway she could hear him screaming that he loved her but if she was tainted by Draco he would have to kill her.

"What do you think will happen to him?" Hermione asked. "Not that I really care at this point."

"He'll be held for the night at least then released on bail until his hearing unless they expedite the hearing. Hermione he will probably do a period of time in Azkaban for the threatening to kill you. You're a ministry employee, and a high ranked one at that. The entire security staff just heard him threaten to kill you. There's laws against threats like that especially being made to the assistant to the Minister." Draco's voice was as calm and still as he could make it despite the anger he still felt coursing through him. Hermione went pale.

"He's going to go to Azkaban? I didn't mean for that to happen! I just wanted to get away!"

"Hermione, that's what happens when you threaten people in a government office and do it in front of people. It's his fault not yours you can't feel bad! Come on, let's get you out of here. I'll send my Patronus to Kingsley and let him know what happened and that I will be working from home while you are on a leave of absence." He held out his hand to her to help her stand. She took it, and was glad she did when she discovered her legs were like jello.

"My what? Since when am I taking a leave of absence?"

"Since your husband beat you to a pulp and almost raped you. You need a break, please actually take it so that we can keep you safe. It's possible he won't get an expedited hearing and can post bail, so he is going to be out there. I know Kingsley will survive in your absence." He smiled at the end trying to lighten the tone even a little.

"You're right. I do need some time. My fireplace is floo connected if your flat is, unless you prefer another way?" Hermione was drained. She needed to rest and frankly the idea of Draco protecting her wasn't exactly unappealing. She just hoped his wife and son were okay with her being there. From what she remembered Astoria Greengrass was never overly fond of her.

"Floo is fine. Hold my hand I don't want to lose you on the wrong grate. Wouldn't want you ending up in Knockturn Alley or anything." He winked. She took his hand and away they went.

Hermione scrunched her eyes tight. She hated the feeling of travelling by floo, it reminded her too much of flying on a broomstick, a pastime she had never understood the enjoyment in. Ron had tried numerous times to teach her to fly and she had never gotten the hang of it, then again he wasn't exactly a good teacher. Seconds later they were shooting out of the fireplace and Hermione, feeling dizzy from the spinning, stumbled and knocked Draco on his back just before she landed straddling his lap with her hands on either side of his face. She winced, both from the pain in her ribs as she fell, and the position she now found herself in. To her surprise Draco didn't seem the least bit horrified and was actually laughing.

"Shit Hermione, I invited you to my flat to protect you from Ron, not so you could pounce on me the second we got through the floo!" He was still laughing and didn't appear to be making any effort to get her off of him. Hermione pushed herself up and off of him as quickly as she could.

"Oh Merlin, I'm sorry…I get dizzy from floo travel…I didn't mean to…" She was stumbling over her words, turning beet red in the face and was completely mortified. Draco sat up and leaned back on his hands.

"It's okay Hermione. It's a story to tell someday…We'll be old sitting having a drink talking about that time you fell out of the floo and landed on my crotch. I can tell people I almost banged Hermione Granger." He winked at the last part and laughed.

"Oh yes, Draco Malfoy the infamous playboy." She rolled her eyes. Draco smiled and helped her up off the floor. Hermione looked around at her surroundings. "This is quite the flat Draco. Is this where you live with Astoria and Scorpious?"

"No, not really. Scorpious has been here loads of times, but Astoria never comes here." Draco's face had fallen slightly, so Hermione didn't press for details. "Astoria lives at Malfoy Manor. I live here most of the time. It's just easier for me to be closer to work in case Kingsley needs me on short notice." Hermione got the sense there was more to the story, but if he wanted her to know he would tell her.

"Well, I could see where that would be more convenient." She said still taking it all in. The living room where they had landed was huge with a big black leather sofa, loveseat and chair. Above the fire place there was a flat screen TV and a surround sound system. "I'm surprised to see that you have a muggle TV in here!"

"Why? I managed to find a channel that's hidden to the muggles that broadcasts quidditch games. Not to mention, some of the muggle movies are pretty interesting. Sometimes it's nice to be able to just relax and not have to think, you know?" Hermione nodded. She knew exactly what he meant. She had liked having a TV in her own flat for exactly the same reason. "Here, let me show you the rest of the place." He started walking away and she followed, looking in all directions so she didn't miss anything. It was odd being in a home owned by Draco Malfoy, she felt like she was seeing some intimate part of his life. The living room opened up into a huge open concept dining room and kitchen. He had beautiful stainless steel appliances, and dark mahogany cabinets. There was a granite island in the centre with more storage space and three bar stools.

"I have never seen such a beautiful kitchen Draco." She said her mouth open a little in shock.

"I like cooking every so often so I built a kitchen that I would love to use." He shrugged and kept walking. He took Hermione back through the living room and down a hallway. "The bedrooms and bathrooms are down here." He said motioning to three doors. "Each bedroom has it's own full bathroom." He opened the first door. "This room is Scorpious' for when he stays here." It was done in the Slytherin green and silver, with a large dark wood bed in the centre. There were shelves full of books and toys and a floor mat for race cars. Hermione just nodded and stayed quiet taking it all in. "Next is my room." He opened the next door and revealed a huge master suite with a four poster kind bed. The walls were a light mocha, the bedding was a combination of blues in an intricate design that perfectly accented the rest of the room. The master bathroom door was open and she could see a four person Jacuzzi style tub, and a huge stand up shower. Hermione had never seen anywhere so beautiful. Draco opened the final door. "And this will be your room for the time you're here." There was another king size bed, this one a white cannonball bed frame, with blue and white china pattern bedding. The walls were a deep blue with pure white thick baseboards and wainscoting. The ensuite bathroom door was open here too and she could see a deep soaker tub and another stand up shower.

"Draco, your flat…it's…beautiful! The bedroom I'll be staying in….it's just…amazing…." She said turning to face him. "You really didn't have to do this, let me stay with you. I don't want Astoria getting upset that you have a woman other than your wife staying with you."

"Honestly, I doubt she would care much. She has her own life and her own friends to keep her busy." Hermione could hear what sounded like a touch of disdain in his voice. She decided it was best not to bring up Astoria anymore unless he did.

"Well, I really appreciate it. I'll have to go today and pick up my things from the motel."

"We'll go together. I don't want you going anywhere alone just yet, just in case. Plus I'll need to pick up dinner for us later anyway. Why don't you settle in and take a short nap or read for a bit in here? You've had a rough go, I'm sure you could use the rest. I have to notify Kingsley of what's happened anyway." She had to admit his offer sounded just about perfect for what she needed right now.

"That sounds wonderful Draco. Actually, I would love to take a nice long bath…" She paused. "But I don't have any of my clothes to change into."

"There are a few things in the closet that I had bought for Astoria in case she decided to come here. Some still have tags on them. She's a bit taller than you though so might be a bit big, but you're welcome to them, and before you say anything, I insist. Take your bath, and enjoy." He smiled at her and walked away. "I'll be right out here if you need anything." He called back to her.

_If someone had ever told me that I would be staying with Draco Malfoy, about to soak in his bath tub, I would have told them they were completely insane. _Hermione thought to herself as she made her way over to the closet. Draco hadn't been kidding. There was practically a wardrobe in here of unworn, still tagged clothing. She carefully went through trying to find something her style. She finally settled on an emerald green sleeveless blouse with a high collar and a tie around the waist and a pair of dark denim skinny jeans. She went over to the dresser and discovered there was also underwear and bras still with tags on. They were all very expensive and lacy looking. Hermione checked the tags for sizing on the bras. 34B. _Definitely a tad too small. It'll do until I get my own things, but thankfully I'm not wearing a lowcut shirt or it would look like my breasts are pushed up to my throat! _She thought to herself, secretly smiling that she was better endowed than Astoria. She wasn't too sure why that made her happy, but it did.

Hermione indulged herself with conjuring a few floating flames around the bathroom with the lights off as she soaked in the deep tub. She was delighted to find an assortment of essential bath oils for the water and had decided to take advantage of a citrus scented one. She hadn't felt this calm and relaxed in a long time and the warm water was working wonders on her sore body. She had done a mending charm on her rib before she got in, and she could feel the soreness melting away. It would still be tender for a few days but at least it was no longer broken. She took her time relaxing and letting the stress flow out of her. She tried not to think about Ron and everything that had happened. For the first time in nearly ten years she wasn't on high alert, or walking on eggshells and it felt like freedom. She had been so scared to leave Ron, thinking that if she did she would fall apart, but now that she had she was surprised to find she was already happier. She already felt more at peace. She knew inside that he may not go away quietly but she could already feel herself feeling stronger and better equipped to deal with him, knowing she no longer had to live with him.

A couple hours later she heard a soft knock on the door. She must have drifted off.

"Hermione? Are you okay in there?" Draco's voice came through the closed door.

"Yes, sorry Draco I must have drifted off to sleep in the bath. I'm getting out now and I'll be ready shortly."

"Take your time, I just wanted to make sure you hadn't drowned or something." He laughed his light airy laugh. "I'll be out here waiting for you when you're done." She heard him walk away and close the bedroom door behind him. She reached over to the towel rack and grabbed herself a big fluffy towel to wrap around herself as she climbed out of the tub. She strode over to the mirror and looked at herself. She barely recognized herself with the bruising everywhere. Sighing she cast a concealment charm, and borrowed some unused makeup she had found in a drawer beneath the counter top. She used a drying spell on her hair and let the loose curls fall down her back. Looking in the mirror she was actually impressed with what she saw. She hadn't bothered to do much with her hair or makeup recently and so, for the first time in a long time, she thought she looked quite pretty. She hung the towel, and walked naked into the bedroom to get dressed. The bra was definitely small and her more than ample breasts were spilling out of the top. _I feel like a stripper. _She thought before pulling the blouse on over her head. It was a little tight across the chest, but still fit her body well. The jeans were a little bit tight, but since she clearly had a larger backside than Astoria, they didn't end up being too long, since what she lacked in height she made up for in curves. She located a pair of plain black leather ballet flat style shoes and slipped them on her feet. She looked at herself one more time in the mirror, and walked out to the living room where she found Draco sitting on the couch reading The Daily Prophet. He had changed and was wearing light blue denim jeans and a form fitting black polo. She took a moment to observe him before he noticed her. He was keeping his hair shorter and more neatly kempt these days and had a slight scruff on his face. She had never really noticed whether or not he was attractive before, but she couldn't help thinking it now. She couldn't understand why any woman would not want to spend time with him, but then again she didn't know Astoria or their marriage. She cleared her throat and Draco looked up from his paper. She noticed his mouth drop open for a moment when he saw her, but he quickly shut it.

"You look…wow." Was all he said getting up from the couch. "Shall we uh, go pick up your things? I called in an order for both of us at Zoro's, that place I got us lunch from, I didn't know what you would like so I ordered the Spaghetti Bolognese I knew you enjoyed that day, I hope that's alright?" He looked unsure, like he thought she might take offense to him choosing her meal.

"That's excellent Draco, thank you. I really appreciate you doing that. How are we getting to the motel? I left my car at the office." She said looking concerned. Obviously the muggle motel she was staying at would not be connected to the floo network, not that she really wished to repeat that experience.

"I do have a car of my own you know." Draco said laughing. "I thought I could drive and you can just sit back, relax, and enjoy."

"You really are being far too good to me you know. I don't deserve any of this from you."

"It's not too good for you, and after everything you've gone through you definitely deserve to be able to unwind a bit."

"Okay, I guess I'll try." Hermione smiled.

They drove in relative quiet except for the radio the whole way to the motel. As they got closer Hermione began lifting the enchantments.

"I'm going to go in and grab your things and pay the innkeeper. You stay here with the doors locked okay?" Draco said as he parked in front of the motel.

"Draco I can collect my own things and pay for my own motel stay. You don't need to do that. I promise you I will be fine." Hermione said getting out of the car. "You want to protect me, fine, but you have to let me keep some of my autonomy. I lost so much of it with Ronald. At least let me do this please." She said leaning into the car a bit as she stood beside the open door. Draco nodded and gave her a half-smile. Hermione went in to the room and made sure everything was back in her suitcase before shrinking it to the size of a small purse, went to pay for her stay and then came back to Draco's Mercedes throwing the suitcase in the back seat. "See? Fine. Nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, okay you were right. Let's go pick up our dinner and head back. I'm starving."

"Me too."

Draco and Hermione made idle chit chat as they drove to Zoro's to pick up the food. This time Draco ran in and she was content to wait in the car. He was in and out in minutes and soon they were back at the flat sitting in his dining room eating their meals.

"I will say, I'm glad to see the clothing I bought isn't going to waste." Draco said in between bites.

"Me too. They're beautiful. I'm shocked any woman wouldn't want them!"

"If you knew Astoria, it wouldn't shock you." Draco laid his fork down and took a small sip of his wine. "Hermione, my marriage to Astoria is…how do I say this…more 'on paper' than anything else." Draco said sighing.

"What does that mean? 'On paper'?"

"It means I married the pureblood girl that my pureblood family picked out for me and told me I had to. I did the familial obligation thing when I married her." Hermione was shocked.

"An arranged marriage? In this day and age? Even after the war?"

"Pureblood families are still doing it. Trying to keep us from, as they say, 'watering down our magical bloodline.'" He looked repulsed even as he said it.

"That's awful. Marriage is supposed to be about love! Mind you, I guess with my marriage to Ron collapsing as it has I'm not the most knowledgeable about how a marriage is supposed to be."

"That wasn't your fault Hermione. You loved him once. I never loved Astoria. I tried for many years. We lived in the manor together, I did my duty in the marriage bed when I had to and we had Scorpious. He is the only thing that came out of this whole thing that made it any kind of worthwhile. I don't hate Astoria, we just aren't in love with one another. We're friendly and we both love Scorpious but that's where it ends. We pretty much just live separate lives, she thinks I don't know she has a man she is seeing, but I do know, I just don't particularly care." He picked his fork up and continued eating. Hermione took a sip of wine and thought about everything he had said.

"Draco, no offense but, that's really sad. I guess in a way both of us are. I dreamed of a marriage full of love and life and children. I never actually got it. Ron traveled so much for the first two years that it wasn't in the cards, and I was always hearing stories about quidditch groupies and I tried really hard to believe Ron was faithful, but who knows. He started pulling away from me, I think perhaps out of guilt if he was in fact cheating, then he got injured and the falling out with Harry and Ginny and the drinking…I don't even know how I stayed this long."

"If you don't mind my asking, what the hell happened with this Harry and Ginny thing? You guys were inseparable at Hogwarts."

"Oh yes…that…well, Harry had gone out with his Auror buddies after work one night and got completely pissed on fire whiskey. Ron was out at a late physiotherapy appointment and Harry showed up at our door saying he needed to talk to me. He had asked if Ron was home but I didn't think anything of it and let him in. I figured he wanted to talk about Ginny. So we sat down on the couch, I poured myself a glass of wine in preparation for this big best friend chat since he seemed so serious and began with asking me if I felt he rushed into marrying Ginny. I asked him what was making him think that, and that was when everything kind of started to hit the fan. He looked me dead in the eye and told me he was head over heels in love with me and always had been, even at Hogwarts but Ron was his friend and so he stayed just my friend. Then he told me he couldn't take it anymore, that he didn't want to be with Ginny anymore, that he wanted to be with me, that when he made love to her he saw my face. To be honest it was starting to really creep me out and despite trying to chalk it up to he was drunk and having problems with his wife and didn't know what he was saying, next thing I knew he had climbed on top of me, his weight pinning me to the couch and was kissing me. I was so shocked that I sort of just laid there for a second not sure what to do, and that was the exact moment Ron walked in the door. He never saw me push Harry off, or the fact that I almost hexed his balls off after the fact. He never stuck around for so much as an explanation, just took off, went to a bar, got drunk and ran to Ginny to tell her all about mine and Harry's affair. It's been nine years and Ron still attacked me calling me a home-wrecking whore and blaming me for the estrangement every time he drank. For the record, I never saw Harry as anything more than a brother. Now he's just nothing to me."

"Holy shit. No wonder you didn't seem to want to talk about it at first. Nine years later Ron still wasn't able to believe you…why even bother to stay then if he was just going to berate you for it for years. Did Ginny flip her lid?"

"That was the worst part. She stormed right over that night as soon as Ron told her. Harry was obviously long gone by then, probably got home just after she left. I let her in thinking she would listen to reason, and I wasn't even going to tell her about her husband's confession. I tried to explain that Harry had been drinking, that I thought he was confused about where he was and who I was, a big fat lie but she was my best friend, I didn't want to destroy her like that. I barely got a word in edge-wise as she screamed and yelled and called me every horrible name known to human kind, let alone wizard kind. I'm pretty sure worthless mudblood whore was thrown around a few times. I was devastated and on top of that Ron never even came home that night so Merlin only knows what happened there. After that Ginny wanted nothing to do with me or Ron, and forbade Harry from speaking to either of us. Why do you think Harry has never been promoted to an authoritative position in the ministry? He's terrified of Ginny's reaction if he ever had to sit in a meeting with me. Every time they've offered, he's turned it down. It's sad really because he would make a great Head Auror, but he's too cowardly to face me."

"Some friend. Her husband comes onto you and suddenly you're no longer best friends, but mortal enemies? That's some harsh shit right there. Maybe you're better off without her Hermione." Draco stood up and cleared their plates and magically cleaned, and put them away. He motioned to the couch so they could keep talking, and took his glass of wine with him. Hermione followed suit, curling her legs up under her in the one corner of the couch. She noticed Draco was watching her intently as she did but she just ignored it, maybe he didn't know anyone who didn't sit prim and proper on a couch.

"Oh believe me, I know I am. I didn't want a repeat of Harry's lecherous attempt to pounce on me, and not only that but Ginny was always kind of a bitch. There were times even at Hogwarts that I couldn't stand to be around her. Let's just say Harry was definitely not her first, and she left a trail of broken hearts behind when she finally settled down with Harry. She constantly tried to pressure me into going to parties and being like her and I never wanted to. I didn't sleep with anyone until Ron. I still haven't despite what Ron might believe." She sipped her wine and watched Draco's grey eyes follow her movements. Given what she dealt with with Ron's drinking, she never drank and was coming to find she had no tolerance. The wine was making her feel warm and tingly already and she had only had one glass.

"Really? The whole time at Hogwarts not one guy? Not even that Krum guy? Everyone thought for sure the two of you were doing it, especially with him being so much older." Draco said seemingly genuinely surprised.

"Nope. Krum and I were more friends than anything. He was a nice guy but…intellectually out of step. I can't be with someone I can't have a conversation with. He mostly watched me study. We lost touch after Ron's injury. He was so depressed that anything to do with the quidditch world just upset him so I avoided talking to Krum to support Ron."

"So Ron pretty much cost you every friend you had and isolated you for twelve years?" Draco's face suddenly looked very serious.

"In essence yes, but a lot of it I did to myself. I chose to stop talking to Krum. I chose to not force Ginny to talk to me. I just didn't have the fight in me after the war. A lot of my close friends died in that war too so there weren't many left to keep in touch with, and the rest of the Weasleys sided with Ginny so obviously there was no one there I could go to either." She set her now empty wine glass down on the coffee table in front of her and sat quietly for a second. "I must say I've missed being able to do this. It's been so long since I've had anyone to talk to besides Ron, and he was never one for deep talks." She smiled at Draco. "Thank you."

"Thank you for what?" Draco asked his eyes boring into hers. "Being your friend? Hermione you may not know this, but you're actually very easy to be friends with. I don't have a huge group of friends either. A lot of them didn't want me to leave the life of a Death Eater even after the war. I pretty much only still talk to Pansy, Blaise and Theo now. Pansy is my best friend actually, she's the only one I really talk to about things. I play quidditch with the guys, and we go out for drinks sometimes, but they're not big conversationalists." He laughed. "It's nice having another person to just be able to sit and be with. You're easy to open up to I've noticed." Hermione blushed.

"I just mean, thank you for everything you've done. You didn't have to take me into your home, let alone anything else you've done for me. It just…means a lot that's all. I want you to know I appreciate it." She smiled at him. "I should probably get some sleep. It's been a long and crazy twenty four hours. She stretched her back before she stood up. Draco stood with her and collected the wine glasses.

"Yeah, get some rest. I hope you don't mind, when we brought your things up I just cast a charm to put everything away for you, so you wouldn't have to do it tonight."

"Thank you, that was very thoughtful of you. Goodnight Draco." Hermione smiled and turned away and made her way to her bedroom. As soon as her head hit the pillow she was asleep. For the first time in what felt like forever she felt safe and secure and got a solid nights sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Hermione opened her eyes slowly, blinking at the sun shining through the bedroom window. She hadn't slept that well in as long as she could remember. She stretched her arms above her head and sat up slowly. She could smell something cooking and it smelled amazing. She climbed out of the far too big bed, and went to the bathroom to straighten up. Hermione brushed her teeth, combed her hair, added her concealment charms, and for good measure threw on a bra. She might have been friends with Draco, but they weren't the kind of friends yet where she would be okay with him seeing her nipples through her tank top, it was enough he would be seeing her legs as her silk Gryffindor red pyjama shorts were a bit on the short side coming to rest about seven inches above her knees. She checked herself over one more time for good measure and started walking towards the delicious smells coming from the kitchen.

"Whatever you're making it smells ama-" She stopped dead when he turned around to face her wearing nothing but a pair of low slung Slytherin green silk pyjama pants. She hadn't noticed the shape he was in with all of his clothes on. Her eyes lingered on the toned muscles of his arms, his chest, and his chiseled six pack abs. _Who knew all of that was underneath…Hermione he is your FRIEND. Your MARRIED FRIEND…Yeah but his wife has someone else, it's an on paper marriage…HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER WEASLEY…Okay no weasley…Granger! Stop staring and thinking about the state of your FRIEND'S MARRIAGE! HE IS YOUR FRIENNNNND! _She argued with herself in her head.

"Uh Hermione? Are you okay? You kind of stopped talking and now your mouth is hanging open and your face is turning the colour of your shorts." He was standing there smirking at her. The Draco Malfoy smirk she remembered from their Hogwarts days. She mentally shook herself.

"Yeah, I'm fine, sorry uh…got distracted for a second" Her entire face was burning with embarrassment, she could even feel it in the tips of her ears.

"Embarrassment becomes you Granger." Draco winked leaning towards her across the island. "Come, sit, I made breakfast." He beckoned her to a bar stool and she sat down. "Would it make it easier for you to focus if I go put a shirt on?" He was teasing her now. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Who says my distraction had anything to do with you at all…Malfoy."

"Your eyes said it all my dear." He smiled sideways at her and started walking back towards his bedroom. "Go ahead, grab some I didn't make it all just for me." He called back to her. Hermione hopped off the bar stool and went over to the pans of food Draco had made. Scrambled eggs, french toast, home fries, and bacon. Her mouth was watering and she eagerly scooped some onto her plate and sat back down just as Draco walked back into the kitchen. "Hungry?" He said eyes wide as he looked at her heaping plate of breakfast.

"Starved." She smiled back up at him and shoved a big piece of bacon in her mouth. "Is that a problem?" She said swallowing.

"Not at all, I enjoy being around women who actually eat. You should see Pansy scarf a cheeseburger, it is possibly the most unattractive thing ever, but at least she isn't living on salad. Explains how you came upon the curves." He said eying her with a wink.

"Did you just…check me out?" She asked him mouth agape.

"I might have. Come on Hermione you come out here in the smallest little Gryffindor shorts I've ever seen, and a tiny tank top and expect me not to at least peek?" He was grinning ear to ear.

"I…didn't think…well you were out here with no shirt on!" She countered despite how ridiculous it sounded as an argument.

"True. And if I do recall you were checking me out too!"

"Yeah….well I haven't exactly woken up in places with half naked men cooking breakfast very often in my life!" Hermione said with her hands on her hips. She was losing this argument completely and if she was honest she didn't even mind. Draco laughed out loud.

"That is the thinnest argument in the world Granger, jeeze I thought you were good at the whole debating/arguing thing. If I go by your argument I could say it isn't very often I have a beautiful woman stroll into my kitchen wearing those little shorts and a little tank top that is showing off the slightest bit of what appears to be a very toned, tan, stomach. Oh and a push up bra too!" They were standing less than a foot apart now.

"This is not a push up bra! This is a normal bra!" She could feel the blush spreading down her chest and hear her voice rising. Draco's eyes widened.

"Seriously? That's all you? No help from Victoria and her secrets?" He said and his eyes lingered on her chest. She slapped his arm, mentally noting how tough and strong it felt.

"Draco-whatever your middle name is-Malfoy! Stop staring at my boobs! This is not appropriate FRIEND behaviour!" She emphasized the word friend for effect, and although she said it, a part of her felt like she might not have really meant it.

"It's Lucius." He said smirking. "Now you know, and who defines what is appropriate between friends anyway?"

"You know what, I am going to go make this easier on you." She smiled backing away from Draco and going to her bedroom and closed the door behind her, leaning her head against it. _What was that! _She thought to herself. _Draco and I...flirting…and I liked it….I must be a terrible person. I literally just left Ron not even two days ago and he is married to Astoria. Whether he is happy or not, they took vows! They have a son! What am I doing? _She shook her head and located her Gryffindor hooded sweater and a pair of jeans. She walked back out to the kitchen fully dressed. "Better?" She said to Draco as she walked back in and sat back down at her stool beside him to continue eating.

"Depends on how you define better I suppose." He said winking. "I didn't mind the way you were dressed before, although one could consider it to have been…distracting."

"Well now you should be distracted no longer." She said giving him a small smile. They finished the rest of their meal quietly just enjoying each other's company. They spent the rest of the day doing their own things, Hermione reading and Draco either watching quidditch or doing some of his work for the Minister. "Draco?" She said quietly peering up at him over the top of her book. He was sitting on the other end of the couch reviewing paperwork.

"Hmm?" He said shuffling the papers and looking at her.

"What…what was all of that earlier?" She knew he would understand what she meant.

"What? This morning?" Draco asked putting his papers aside. Hermione put her book down and sat up to look at him.

"Yes this morning. I…I thought we were just friends."

"Did I…upset you? If I did I didn't mean…" He looked worried. Hermione placed her hand on his leg gently.

"No. Come on Draco did I seem upset?"

"Well no but maybe I took things too far. I'm an asshole you just left your husband…"

"Draco stop. Please. You are not an asshole. If anything you're…" She paused. "You're one of the kindest people I've known as shocking to me as that was at first knowing your past. I'm just…I don't know…confused I guess."

"Why are you confused?" He placed his hand over hers.

"Because I just left Ron, but I haven't felt…Ron and I's marriage was a lot like yours and Astoria's in a way. I don't think I've truly loved him for many years. We had those few weeks when he was sober that were great but…I think I was trying to hold on to a feeling that just wasn't there anymore. I was trying to make myself love him. With everything he did to me in the last Merlin knows how long…Leaving him now doesn't feel like I just left, I think I've been already gone for years." She looked down at their hands and back up into Draco's eyes. "And despite the hell that my marriage became, and despite the fact that your marriage to Astoria is…for lack of a better term, a sham….I can't help but feel weird about flirting with another man, let alone a married man…" She trailed off. Draco squeezed her hand.

"Hermione, I didn't lure you here to try and get you into bed or anyth-"

"I never said you did! Oh Draco that's not-"

"Shh…" He said gently putting a finger to her lips. "Let me finish love." He said it so gently that she just nodded her head. He had used a term of endearment and though it was foreign to her, Hermione found she enjoyed it. "What I was going to say, is that I didn't bring you here to sleep with you. I brought you here so you could have a soft place to land after everything with Ron. I wasn't trying to make you uncomfortable, I was just paying you attention because I do think you're beautiful. I do think you're an amazing woman. I have a confession to make…" He paused. She locked her chocolate brown orbs on his grey ones. "At the risk of coming across like Potter…I liked you even in Hogwarts."

"You bullied me in Hogwarts! You called me a mudblood! What rubbish is this that you liked me in Hogwarts!" She interrupted him. "And no trust me that was a lot…more…shall we say…sweet than what Harry did…anyway let's not talk about him." She shook her head and Draco laughed.

"Okay have you not ever heard the old adage about boys pulling girls hair on the playground because they like them? I thought you were brilliant. I was stunned that a muggle-born witch could be more skilled than I was, a pureblood. You made me start to question all that garbage that was drilled in to me about muggle-borns being less than. Of course I could never tell you, and of course I could never act on it. My family would have killed me. So, I acted like I hated you, and believe it or not when you decked me in third year I just liked you more. You showed that you were passionate and a strong female not to be messed with." He smiled ear to ear. "It was kind of hot." He winked. Hermione blushed.

"You thought it was hot that I punched you in the face? That's a little kinky Draco." She laughed teasing him. Now it was his turn to blush.

"I didn't mean it like that!" He said with his eyes wide. He was fairly surprised to hear that word come out of her mouth.

"I didn't say I minded." She winked at him making his eyes widen further and his mouth hang open. She reached over and jokingly closed it for him. "Come on Draco you know I'm just teasing you…" She paused putting on a more serious face and made eye contact once more. "So we've established there's definitely a mutual attraction happening here. What do we do about it?"

"That depends on you Hermione. I don't want to do anything that you are uncomfortable with. I wanted to be honest with you about my feelings, but I don't want to push you."

"You aren't pushing me Draco. I think I'm only unsure because it came on so quickly. One minute I was married to Ron the next I'm living here with you, flirting with you in the kitchen. It's…surprising that's all."

"Is it really that surprising? Okay maybe the leaving Ron and now being here part I guess…but we have been friends now for what, going on three months since the first time I waltzed into your office and thought your eyes would burn a hole through my face?" He laughed. "It's okay if this is a bit confusing for you. I've known how I've felt about you much longer than you have." He grabbed her hand with both of his. "What do you want? I will accept whatever answer you give. If one of your concerns is Astoria, like I said we don't really have a marriage. We co-parent Scorpious and we live our actual lives separately."

"I don't…I mean…I know I'm attracted to you. Like…really attracted to you. But I don't know if I'm ready to jump in to something with both feet…at least…not yet…"

"We don't have to label anything. We don't even have to tell anyone. I won't even tell Pansy, as hard as that will be because she has an uncanny ability to sense when I'm not telling her something but I won't tell her. We can go slow. I'm not trying to force your decision, I just…I want to give this a chance."

"There's this huge part of me that is saying to give this a chance, just go with how I feel…but a small part of me is terrified…I've only ever been with Ron, I'm not sure I even know where to begin."

"Let's just take things as they come. Do what feels natural to both of us. It's between you and I no one else needs to be a part of it until we are ready to have them know."

"I suppose it would be worth trying. I know I want to. You can tell Pansy if you want to, she's your best friend I don't expect you to hide your life and what's happening in it from her. Just…no one else okay?"

"Okay." Draco smiled and squeezed her hand tight. "So…you're really okay with this?"

"Yeah." She smiled. "I am." Draco pulled her toward him so she was half in his lap, facing him. Hermione could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She stared into his eyes and slowly inched her face towards him. He met her lips with his and she closed her eyes. His lips were soft and gentle. She gently parted hers to allow him to deepen their kiss. She felt him slide his tongue into her mouth while he wrapped his arms around her. She straddled his lap and deepened the kiss, her own tongue battling his. She felt like electricity was coursing through her veins, she had never felt this way from just kissing. Hermione very reluctantly pulled away and sat back looking at Draco.

"Wow…" He breathed in deeply. "I wasn't expecting that but…it was better than I ever imagined."

"Yeah…me too." She felt shaky, like if she were to try and stand she would fall over. Draco brushed the hair out of her face.

"You still sure?" He asked, nuzzling his face in her hair.

"More than ever." She said closing her eyes and settling herself more comfortably in his lap so she was tucked with his right arm around her and her legs were over his lap. "We should figure something out for dinner." She said looking up at him.

"You're right. Order takeaway junk food and watch a movie?"

"Sounds good to me. Pizza?"

"Pizza sounds amazing. I'll call and order it." Draco reached over to the side table, grabbed the cordless phone that was sitting there and called in a pizza order with Hermione still in his lap. "So, what do you want to watch? I actually have quite the impressive muggle movie collection, hang on I'll go get it." He lifted her up easily and placed her back down on the couch like it was as difficult as lifting a feather. He came back moments later holding about 10 boxes the size of ring boxes.

"That is your epic muggle movie collection? Awfully tiny." She teased. "Shrinking spell?"

"Much easier to hide, that way I can avoid the teasing if Blaise and Theo ever come over. They only just bought TVs in the last few months, and only to get the quidditch channel."

"Ah, purebloods." She teased.

"Yeah yeah…"He rolled his eyes. "Now, what are you in the mood for?"

"I'm not sure, how about you pick?"

"Do you have a favourite actor or anything?"

"I like Johnny Depp." She shrugged. Draco expanded the box marked comedy.

"I think I know just the movie." He reached in the box and pulled out Benny and Joon. "Have you ever seen this?" He asked showing her the case.

"Actually no. I've heard of it, but never actually seen it."

"Great. I'll get it set up." He went over to his very expensive looking entertainment system and popped the DVD in. The phone rang for the pizza just as the title menu popped up.

Hermione and Draco snuggled up on the couch with their pizza and had just started the movie when Draco's phone rang. He paused the movie, apologizing to Hermione and grabbed the phone.

"Hello?" He answered. "Oh hi Kingsley, hang on just a second." He held the phone against his chest and whispered to Hermione that he would be right back, kissed her on the forehead and wandered his way down the hall to his bedroom. She sat on the couch chewing her pizza, wondering what that could have been about. Five minutes later Draco came back and sat down. "Uh Hermione?" She set her pizza down on the table. His voice sounded serious.

"What is it Draco?" She was nervous now. Was Kingsley upset that she was taking time off? That didn't seem like him. Maybe it was something else.

"So that was Kingsley on the phone. He uh…he had news about Weasley." He reached out and held her hand. "They're holding him in a cell at the ministry for now, but they bumped up his hearing date. He's being tried tomorrow morning." He searched her face for an indication of her reaction. It was completely blank.

"So, they're formally charging him with uttering threats against a Ministry official then?" Her voice was quiet but completely still. Draco found it a little unnerving.

"Yeah. Kingsley said he has a very strong feeling that he's going to be convicted and sent to Azkaban. It's just a matter of how long the Wizengamot feels he should be in there."

"Hmm. Well…I guess we will know tomorrow then right?" She sounded oddly cool, even to her own ears. This was her husband of twelve years and it felt strange to her that she didn't really feel anything at all. Draco quirked an eyebrow at her, he clearly was expecting a much bigger reaction than she was giving.

"Uh yeah…tomorrow…are you okay?"

"Actually, yes. I am. Hey Draco?"

"Yes?"

"As far as I'm aware, there is a law that states if someone is convicted of a crime against their spouse, they can file for an uncontested divorce without requiring the convicted party's signature. Do you think, if he is in fact convicted tomorrow, you could ask Kingsley to owl over the forms?" As soon as she said it, she knew it was exactly what she wanted. She realized she wanted nothing more to do with her former life. She finally felt at peace, and like she might be able to find some semblance of happiness. She didn't want to bring her Ron baggage into that.

"A-are you…sure?" Draco asked her, clearly shocked that she wanted to do that so quickly.

"Actually yes. I want to put my life with Ron behind me. I've been miserable for a decade and I don't want to be miserable any longer. If he is convicted, it is my way out of having to fight with him about divorce. Do you think you could help me with one more thing?"

"Sure. Anything." He was still very surprised at how well Hermione was handling everything.

"Ron and I's flat. Technically, if he is in Azkaban he will have no claim to it and it will default into solely my name. I would like to sell it."

"Hermione…that was your home…you're sure you want to sell it?"

"There are no good memories for me in that place. I would rather live somewhere that doesn't make me think of Ron. I have more than enough for a downpayment on another place. There's no need to keep the flat." She felt this indescribable feeling of complete freedom taking over her.

"If that's what you want to do, of course I'll help you. As for buying a new place…you don't want to stay here?" Draco's face fell a little though he was clearly trying hard to hide it.

"Well…no….I do….but…I thought…I didn't think you wanted us to live together permanently at least not yet. We only just decided we were going to…do whatever it is we're doing…I just didn't want you to feel pressured. Especially since there is still the fact that you're married to Astoria. I just figured at some point you would want me to get my own place." Draco stroked the side of her face and held her chin in his hand.

"Hermione, I am serious about you. I didn't make this decision to try with you lightly. I want you to stay, forever if you so decided. As for Astoria, I wanted to wait to do anything about that until you were sure what you wanted to do. I don't want to stay married to her and be with you, I don't. I just want to make sure you and I are serious before I leave Scorpious' mother permanently. I know that she won't care, but my son doesn't know anything about our lack of a relationship. He is the only reason I've stayed in this façade this long." Draco kissed her lips gently. Hermione responded back by deepening their kiss and pushing him down onto the couch, her legs on either side of him. She caught Draco by surprise and it took him a moment to realize what had just happened. He gently grabbed her shoulders and pushed her into a sitting position. "Love, we don't have to rush things. I am more than happy to just sit here close to you watching a movie." Hermione raised her eyebrow and smirked at him.

"Did I seem unsure?"

"Well….no….actually you seemed very confident but…" She held her hand up to stop him.

"I am a woman who knows what I want Draco. Sometimes it may seem like I've just made a sudden decision, but really behind the scenes there is a thought process that led me there. When you told me about Ron, I realized that it was over long ago and there was no grieving process needed. I want to move forward. I want to be happy." She paused. "I want you. All of you. I thought I wanted to take it slow. I thought I was too…broken…to dive in…but I'm not. Something just…clicked. Draco Lucius Malfoy, I want to jump with you headfirst into this. I am putting my trust in you that you are genuine, and I need you to trust that I am ready for this." He leaned forward to kiss her but she stopped him once more. "One more thing. Tell people when you are ready to. I don't want to rush you into leaving Astoria and potentially hurting Scorpious. He's your son, and you do whatever you need to where he is concerned, okay?"

"Can I kiss you now?" Draco asked grinning from ear to ear.

"Is that your way of acknowledging everything I just said?" She winked and Draco nodded leaning in. The kiss was heated right from the beginning, their tongues battling for dominance while Draco leaned back pulling Hermione down on top of him. He buried his face in her neck and nibbled and sucked, trailing his fingers along her spine. He could feel her shiver every time he nipped the soft flesh where her neck met her collar bone and could tell that everything she had said was true. She had made up her mind, she was ready. Draco slowly moved into a sitting position with Hermione straddling him and looked her right in the eyes. Her eyes were darker than usual, full of lust and desire. She slipped her soft hands under the hem of his shirt and gently stroked the muscles of his stomach. At his sharp inhale at the feel of her touch Hermione sucked her bottom lip into her mouth biting it while still keeping the eye contact. Draco had never seen something so sexy in all his life. He slid his hands down her body and cupped her backside in his hands, claiming her lips with his own, and lifted her off the couch. Hermione tightened her legs around his hips and slung her arms around his neck while he carried her down the hallway to the entrance of his bedroom.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Draco asked. He was fairly certain he knew the answer, but wanted to hear her say it. He wanted to hear what she sounded like with desire in her voice, telling him she was ready to be claimed by him.

"Yes Draco, I have never been more ready in my life." Her voice was deeper than usual but airy and he could hear her deep breathing as she spoke. His name coming out of her mouth sounding that way, made him wonder what she would sound like moaning it. He moved into the bedroom kicking the door shut behind him and placed her down, standing, at the side of his bed in front of him. He fisted her hair in his hands and kissed her mouth hard, eliciting a small moan from Hermione's throat. She grabbed the hemline of his shirt and pulled it over his head, breaking their kiss. She couldn't help but stop and stare at the man in front of her, tracing the outline of his muscles with her fingertips. She noticed Draco was quivering slightly at her touch and pulled her hands away. She was chewing on her lip again, looking into his steel grey eyes as they watched her every move. She slid her hands down to the bottom of her hoodie and slowly pulled it over her head. She had no shirt on underneath, just a bra, and she could hear Draco's breath hitch at the view. Keeping her eyes on him she trailed her fingers down her own body until she reached the button of her jeans. Draco felt himself getting harder as he watched her movements. Hermione slowly undid the button and slid her jeans down her legs, revealing bikini style cotton underwear and Draco was surprised that he was more turned on by the sight of Hermione in a black cotton bra and matching underwear than he had ever been with women decked out in expensive lace and thongs. She kicked her feet out of the jeans and pressed herself against his bare chest and Draco's pulse quickened as he felt her hands caressing his skin working their way down to his belt. She hopped up onto the edge of the bed and pulled him between her legs. She could see the bulge straining against the denim and felt her own arousal pooling in anticipation. She leaned forward and rained kisses across Draco's chest as she undid his pants and allowed them to fall at his feet. She slid herself back further onto the bed and climbed up towards the pillows, Draco following her in nothing but his tight black boxer briefs. Hermione took note that they did not leave anything to the imagination, and apparently he was quite large, nine inches if she had to make a guess. She let her eyes close and her head tip back on the pillows as she felt Draco's warm mouth suckling the soft spot of her ankle, his hands slowly working their way up until they were almost where she was dying to feel him. She was panting now and little moans were falling from her lips as Draco continued his ministrations. He had lifted her leg above his shoulder and was swirling his tongue in the little crevice behind her knee while trailing his fingertips along her inner thighs. By the time Draco moved his way up her body to kiss her lips, Hermione was coated in a thin layer of sweat, her chest heaving up and down, and her moans getting increasingly louder. She was digging her nails in his back and wrapping her legs around him, her hips bucking upwards. Draco slid one of his hands down her tight stomach and played with the waistband of her underwear, while dipping his tongue into the cups of her bra and swirling it around her nipples. She felt him slip his free hand under her back and undo the clasp, she grabbed it and threw it somewhere across the room. Draco grinned to himself at her eagerness to be exposed to him. Agonizingly slowly he slipped his hand beneath the fabric of her underwear, and swiped across the most sensitive part of her. Her back arched forcing her taut nipple further into Draco's mouth, "Merlin!" She cried out before whimpering when he moved his hand away. "Draco! Please! I…I…need you." She moaned out between deep breaths. He thought he might cum right there at the sound of not only his name, but her begging him to touch her.

"All in good time love." He responded while nipping her nipple with his teeth. She was writhing and squirming beneath him now, trying to hook his boxers with her feet to pull them off of him. He couldn't handle it anymore, he needed to feel her. Using both hands he tore her underwear right off and slipped out of his own. He pressed himself against her and moaned as he felt the wetness there. He slid himself up and down between her folds causing Hermione's legs to shake and quiver, her nails to dig holes in his back and her hips to buck wildly beneath him.

"Merlin, Draco! I want you! Please!" She cried out. She heard him murmur what sounded like a contraception charm, and then he was inside her.

"Mmm Hermione!" Draco moaned as she tightened around him. He had never been with a woman that felt this good in his entire life. She was like soft warm velvet surrounding him, and she was tight. Deliciously tight. He tried to go slowly at first but Hermione wanted no part of it. She threw one leg over his shoulder and wrapped the other around his waist pulling him deeper. He quickened his pace, pumping into her over and over again as she eagerly lifted her hips to meet his thrusts. It didn't take Hermione long before her muscles began clenching around him, her orgasm washing over her in waves.

"OH DRACO!" She cried arching her back, her toes curling as she came. Her entire body was shaking and twitching as Draco continued moving inside her, watching her intently. The visual of her body naked and covered in a sheen of sweat, her chest heaving, neck tilted all the way back, fingers clutching the sheets and her screaming his name, was more than he could take.

"Hermione! He cried out as he buried himself deep inside her, his orgasm more intense than any he had had before it. Draco collapsed on top of her, careful not to crush her with his weight. He rested his head on her chest listening to the pounding of her heart, while Hermione played with his hair.

"Draco…that was…" Her eyes were still closed, basking in the afterglow of their love making.

"Mmhmm…" Draco wasn't sure that he would be able to speak if he tried. Hermione had thought that Ron was fantastic in bed, but then again she realized she had had nothing to compare it to. Now that she did, she couldn't help but realize Ron was average, maybe a tad better than average on a good night, but nothing at all compared to Draco. "You are one hell of a woman Hermione." He said once he could finally form words again and gently lifted himself off of her to lay beside her. Hermione moved so that her head was on his chest.

"I've never…felt…like that before." She said raising her eyes to look at him. Draco smiled back at her.

"Neither have I. I feel like I'm in a dream. If someone had told me a week ago that I would be lying in bed, having just made love to Hermione Granger, I would have told them they were insane. There was no way someone like you could ever want to be with me. Yet, here we are." He kissed her forehead.

"Here we are." She smiled.


	5. Chapter 5

Hermione slowly opened her eyes and took in her surroundings, she was in Draco's bed completely naked and wrapped in his arms.

"Good morning love." She jumped at the sound of his voice, having been under the impression he was still asleep. She rolled over to face him.

"How did you know I was awake?" She asked tracing circles on his shoulders with her fingertips.

"I felt you move and your breathing got lighter. Did you sleep well?" He gave her a chaste kiss on the lips.

"I did actually. I don't even remember falling asleep."

"It didn't take you long. You laid your head on my chest and I think I heard snoring about ten minutes later." He laughed.

"I do not snore!" Hermione said, her mouth open.

"Oh, yes you do!" Draco countered. "It's cute though, not loud or anything, don't worry no need to be horrified." He winked at her.

"Uh huh…" She said playfully smacking his arm. She moved her hand down his arm to rest on his hip. She watched his face as she played with the V shape his lower belly to his hips made. He closed his eyes enjoying her touch. She moved the blanket slightly and noticed that Draco had morning wood. She felt like she couldn't help herself as she slowly moved her hand lower until she was gripping him in her hand. Draco's eyes flew open.

"Merlin's beard Hermione!" He said in shock. She slowly began moving her hand up and down.

"What?" She asked feigning innocence. Draco wrapped his hand in her hair and pulled her in to him and kissed her deeply as he let her continue to stroke him. She slowed down to an agonizingly slow pace as she made her way down his body using her lips and tongue to trail his muscles all the way down his stomach. She looked up at him seductively, his eyes boring into hers as she slowly lowered her mouth over the tip of his penis. She flicked her tongue along the head, lapping up the little bead that had formed there. Draco tossed his head back and held her hair with one hand as if to guide her, though he quickly discovered that Hermione needed no help. She slowly took his entire length into her mouth and down her throat bobbing slowly up and down, alternating sucking with swirling her tongue around his shaft. Draco groaned and bucked his hips up and down thrusting himself into Hermione's mouth. She matched his rhythm and twisted her hands up and down the base of his shaft while she focused on sucking and licking the head.

"Fuck Hermione!" He moaned as she once again took him all the way in and down her throat…and hummed as she slid back up. Draco's cock was twitching against her tongue and she knew he was close. She bobbed up and down until she felt him start to clench his muscles. "Oh Merlin! Hermione!" He yelled as she pushed his entire length as far down her throat as it would go and swallowed every drop that shot out of him. When he was finished, he gently pulled Hermione's hair to get her to come back up to his mouth. He kissed her roughly, nibbling and sucking her bottom lip. Before she knew what was happening, she was on her back with Draco on top of her, sucking and nibbling her neck and teasing her nipples with his fingers.

"Mmm Draco!" She moaned arching her back and writhing beneath him. As Draco planted kisses all over her torso, he spoke to her.

"You…" between her breasts... "Are…" her hipbone… "So…" just below her belly button… "Fucking…" her other hipbone… "Sexy!" He sucked a nipple into his mouth and nipped with his teeth. Hermione whimpered. She could feel her arousal pooling between her legs as Draco touched and kissed her. She felt his hand sliding down her body and gently part her thighs. She gasped as he slipped his fingers between her folds and stroked up and down. She moaned and parted her legs wider to allow him better access. Draco slowly entered her with his fingers curling them inside her while moving in and out and she bucked her hips in time with his movements. Hermione was squirming and shaking beneath him as he stroked inside her. Draco lowered his head and brushed his lips against her clit gently causing Hermione to arch forward in surprise and pleasure. Slowly he flicked his tongue up and down between her folds, continuing to use his fingers inside of her.

"Oh Draco! Yes! Yes!" Hermione cried as he drew her nub into his mouth, swirling his tongue as he sucked. She could feel the orgasm building up as Draco continued his ministrations between her legs. As he felt her clenching around his fingers he quickened his pace and flicked his tongue up and down faster and faster. Hermione gripped his hair between her fingers and held him in place as she screamed his name, shuddering and gasping as she came. Draco allowed her a few moments to collect herself before he re-entered her, this time with his cock. Hermione's eyes flew open for a moment before closing again as she threw herself back against the pillows and wrapped her legs around him. Gradually, he leaned back and pulled her up into a sitting position so she was straddling his lap. She buried her face in his neck and moaned as he rocked his hips pushing himself deeper and deeper inside of her. It didn't take long for Hermione's second orgasm to wash over her, her muscles tightening and gripping Draco's cock as she bounced up and down in his lap, causing him to cum right along with her.

Sweaty and satiated, Hermione and Draco sat facing each other, with Hermione still straddling him. She rested her forehead against his.

"Twice in less than twenty four hours...who would have known you were so insatiable Ms. Granger." Draco teased running his hands up and down her back. Hermione blushed crimson.

"Is that…a bad thing?" Her voice sounded uncertain. She didn't want Draco to think she was just out for sex. He tilted her chin up so he could look into her eyes.

"Not in the least my dear." Draco kissed her lips gently. "I think it is incredibly sexy that you enjoy sex and are confident enough to go after it. I could never see that as a negative thing." All of a sudden they heard a noise that sounded remarkably like a door opening and closing, and they both froze.

"Draco Malfoy you better not be asleep in there still!" Pansy Parkinson's voice floated down the hallway, getting nearer to his bedroom. Hermione's eyes went wide and so did Draco's.

"Shit! I completely forgot I had plans-" He never finished the thought as Pansy flung his bedroom door open. Draco and Hermione snapped out of their frozen state and tried to fling themselves under the blankets, but it was too late. Pansy had definitely seen them and had flung her hands over her eyes.

"In the name of Salazar Slytherin what did I just see?!" She squealed. "Wait…" She slowly peeked between her fingers. "Granger?" She questioned. Hermione blushed deep red nodding slightly. She wished she could disappear right then and there. Pansy winked at her and rounded on Draco. "Okay Draco, I am going to go back out there and make myself a tea, and you are going to get dressed and then, I think since you stood me up this morning, you have some explaining to do!" She paused. "Plus I have something I need to discuss with you." She flashed a cheeky smile at Hermione before walking out of the room.

Once Hermione was sure Pansy was in the kitchen making tea, she shot up in bed and stared at Draco.

"She has a key? And apparently thinks it's normal to just barge into your bedroom without knocking?" Hermione whispered loudly. Draco could hear a hint of jealousy in her voice and he laughed. "It's not funny Draco!" She said smacking him in the arm, which just made him laugh harder. Hermione gave him a death glare.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry my best friend saw us naked, but I can assure you I am most definitely the last person she would have wanted to see." He was trying hard to contain his amusement. Hermione quirked an eyebrow.

"Why wouldn't she?" She questioned.

"Let's just say I'm sure she got much more enjoyment out of seeing you naked than me." He dissolved into laughter again. Draco watched as Hermione's face went from confusion, to understanding, to total shock.

"Wait…are you…what?" She stammered. "Are you saying Pansy Parkinson is…." She trailed off.

"A lesbian?" Draco finished for her. "Yes, she is." He laughed as Hermione's face displayed a feeling of relief. "So, clearly you have nothing to worry about between Pansy and I." He said teasingly.

"Don't you think you should go get dressed before she comes back in here?" Hermione said changing the subject. Draco hopped out of bed.

"You're probably right. She would too." He said throwing on a pair of track pants and a t-shirt. "You're welcome to join us, I'm sure Pansy wouldn't mind." He added as he reached the door.

"No no, she sounded like she wanted to talk to you about something important. I'm going to go take a nice long shower, maybe read a bit in the spare room. I'm a little too embarrassed right now to face Pansy if you don't mind." She smiled. "Take your time, come get me when she leaves okay?" She kissed him quickly before scurrying off to the other room.

"So…Hermione Granger is your latest conquest." Pansy stated as Draco entered the kitchen where she was already perched on a bar stool.

"It's not like that Pansy." He answered cooly. "She isn't a conquest."

"Okay but, isn't she married to that Ron Weasley guy?" Her face had lost it's teasing expression and now just looked interested.

"Technically, yes, but they're separated. Soon to be divorced." He said grabbing himself a mug for coffee. Pansy sipped her tea eyeing Draco waiting to see if he would go on. "I…care for her Pansy….perhaps more than I ever have for any other woman…" He poured the coffee into his cup and sat down next to her. "It's only been a couple days and she only just left her husband so it's only just starting out if you're wondering why I hadn't told you yet."

"I don't expect you to tell me everything as soon as it happens Draco." Pansy said eyeing him over her cup. "I'll give you this though, who would have known Gryffindor's princess would have a body like that!" She said winking at him. Draco's eyes went wide.

"Merlin Pansy! How much did you actually see?" His face was turning red.

"Enough." She said slyly. "So what about Astoria?" She asked sipping her tea.

"What about her? You know how things are Pansy. We've barely ever been more than friends our entire marriage. Besides, I'm fairly certain she has been seeing another man." Pansy almost choked on her tea.

"Oh?" She asked quirking an eyebrow.

"Every time I have Scorpious here she's been leaving the manor and disappearing for days. Whenever I bring him back to her she seems oddly giddy." He sipped his coffee. "It doesn't bother me. She seems happy, that's really all I want for her. I plan to sit down with her sometime soon and talk to her about everything and where we go from here. Keeping things as normal as possible for Scorpious is my only major concern." Pansy set her tea cup down on the island in front of her.

"Draco there's something I need to tell you." Her green eyes were fixed on him and she seemed very serious all of a sudden. Draco turned to face her.

"Everything okay Pans?" He asked concerned.

"Uh…yeah…but…what I'm about to tell you…I need you to know it wasn't planned and I don't want you to get mad or anything…you seem like you're happy so I don't know that you will but you're my best friend and I don't want to lose that." The last part came out rushed and Draco could tell she was nervous.

"Nothing you could tell me will make me no longer be your friend. Unless it's that you've taken to murdering puppies or something." He laughed trying to lighten the mood a bit. Pansy took a deep breath.

"You're right. Astoria has been seeing someone. But…" She paused. Draco quirked an eyebrow wondering where she was going with this. "Draco it's me. She's been seeing me." Draco spat his coffee across the kitchen.

"She…what?" He choked out before muttering a cleaning spell to take care of the mess he just made. "You're kidding right?" He added staring open-mouthed at Pansy who was currently staring at the floor like it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen.

"No. I'm not. It…was never supposed to happen but it did. I'm sorry Draco." She looked up at him. "I…I think I'm in love with her." There were tears in her eyes and Draco couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She must have been terrified to tell him, knowing there was a chance he would react badly and she would lose his friendship. Draco sighed and wiped a tear from her cheek.

"Don't cry Pans. I'm not mad at you. Shocked yes, a bit blindsided, but not mad. How can I be? I can't fault you or Astoria for wanting to be happy and if that's with each other then, who am I to stop you? After all, as you now know, I plan to discuss an official separation with Astoria anyway so I can be with Hermione out in the open without secrets." He paused and looked Pansy in the eyes. "You and Astoria are happy though?" Pansy nodded. "Can I just ask…how?"

"Well, it started out just as a friendly thing. I had stopped by one day looking for you, but Astoria informed me you and Scorpious were here. She seemed bored, and sort of lonely, so I suggested going to lunch and some shopping. We clicked and became friends. We started having lunch or dinner more often, and then…" She paused, "Draco are you sure you really want to hear this?" She questioned with a quirked eyebrow. He shrugged his shoulders.

"After everything you just saw, I don't think there's much point in sugarcoating anything, just spare me the gory details." He said laughing. Pansy rolled her eyes and continued.

"Astoria came over to my place for dinner and a chick flick night. Both of us ended up drinking far too much red wine, and one thing kind of led to another and next thing I knew we were in bed together." She was a deep shade of crimson as she finished talking. Draco burst out laughing.

"Well then…maybe that's why Astoria and I never made it work. I don't have the right equipment." He caught his breath, but at the look on Pansy's face started laughing all over again.

"This was not exactly the reaction I was expecting you know." She said with a crooked smile.

"What can I say? I have no reason to be upset with you, as long as you don't try to seduce Hermione we're all good." He winked and Pansy wrinkled her nose at him.

"As attractive as Ms. Granger may be, I'm content where I am." A sly smirk crossed Pansy's face and Draco knew she was about to switch back into her old self and say something completely inappropriate. "So you're seriously not the least bit mad that your best friend is fucking your wife?" She asked with a quirked eyebrow and a smirk.

"And, there's the Pansy Parkinson I know and love," He said laughing, "always counted upon to be completely vulgar and to the point. No I am not bothered by it at all. It actually explains a lot, and knowing she has someone and is happy will make breaking the news about Hermione that much easier. Thank you for being honest with me Pans." He said standing to clear their cups.

"You're welcome. Listen, tell Hermione I'm sorry for barging in like that. I'll knock from now on, or better yet, send a patronus. I don't need the repeat visual." She winked. "I'm going to head out. Astoria is probably having ten thousand fits waiting to find out how it went…yeah that's the other thing, she knows I was telling you today."

"I will pass along your apology, and as for my wife, please don't mention Hermione. I think that should come from me. Just let her know I understand and am not upset with her. I was thinking about picking Scorpious up tomorrow so Hermione could meet him, perhaps you could ask Astoria to let me know if it's okay for us to have coffee first?"

"Yeah, no problem. I'll get her to send you a patronus." Pansy opened the door to the flat ready to leave. "Thank you for being understanding Draco."

"Yeah, that's me, Mr. Understanding." He joked as showed her out. "Have a good day Pans."

"You too Draco." And with that she apparated away.

Draco made his way down the hallway to Hermione's bedroom and knocked lightly.

"Hermione? Pansy's gone now. Can I come in?" He heard her approval through the door and made his way into the room. Hermione was leaning against the headboard, propped up with pillows. She set her book down on the end table and smiled.

"How'd your coffee go with Pansy?"

"It was…enlightening." He said sitting on the edge of the bed. "You look…amazing….by the way."

"I'm just wearing a tank top and jeans Draco." She said raising an eyebrow at him.

"And you look amazing wearing it." Draco grinned.

"So you said your coffee was enlightening…how so?" Hermione asked tilting her head slightly.

"Oh yes. So remember when I told you that I was fairly certain Astoria was seeing another man?" He looked amused.

"Yes…but what does that have to do with Pansy?"

"Well…what if I told you Astoria isn't actually seeing a man?" He emphasized the word man to help Hermione get his point.

"I don't und-" She stopped, realization washing over her. "Are you telling me she's…Astoria is dating Pansy?" Her eyes were wide with shock and Draco was just laughing away. "Are you serious?" Draco nodded. "Clearly you're okay with this." She added staring at him as he laughed.

"Actually I really am. I was surprised obviously but now a lot of things about Astoria make sense. Pansy says they're happy together, so if that's true then I'm happy for them as well. Also I asked her to get Astoria to send me a patronus later to let me know if it's okay for me to go pick up Scorpious for the day tomorrow. That way when I go to pick him up I can talk to her a bit, and then you can meet him. I hope that's okay with you?" He leaned forward and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Of course. I would love to meet Scorpious. I can stay here and get ready while you go back to the manor in the morning." She smiled and kissed him. "I'm starving and I would like to get out for a bit, maybe we can go grab something to eat and go for a walk or something?"

"Sounds good to me love. I'll just shower quickly and be right back, ready to go." Draco left the room and went to get ready, so Hermione decided to continue her book. Before she could she saw something shimmery and blue white enter the room. Kingsley Shacklebolt's patronus.

"Hermione. I thought you should know that Ronald Weasley has been sentenced to 100 days in Azkaban having been charged with uttering death threats against a ministry official. An owl will be arriving shortly with the papers you requested regarding your divorce, as well as everything you will need to be able to prove that he is in jail due to a crime committed against you, thereby providing you the ability to do whatever you see fit with any assets. I hope you are taking much needed time to rest until you are ready to come back to the office. We miss you around here." As soon as the patronus vanished, Hermione heard tapping on the living room window. She rushed over to it, letting the owl in that was presumably carrying the aforementioned documents. She removed the paperwork from its leg and paid the bird a sickle. He nudged her hand as thanks and perched on the sill waiting to see if there would be a return letter.

"Hold on one moment." She said to the bird and ran to find a pen. She returned and hastily opened the paperwork to locate the divorce application form. She smiled to herself when she realized Kingsley had already taken the liberty of filling in the more time consuming sections, and all she really needed to do was sign and date it. When she was finished she rolled it up and tied it to the owl's leg. "Please give this directly to Minister Shacklebolt." The bird made a chirping noise in acknowledgement and flew away.

"Was that an owl?" Draco said from behind her as he entered the living room. Hermione turned around at the sound of his voice. She couldn't help but notice how good he looked in his tailored dark denim jeans and skin tight white polo shirt.

"Hmm? Oh yes, it was." She pulled her eyes away from Draco's torso to look at his face." While you were in the shower a patronus from Kingsley arrived, Ron's hearing is over. That owl was bringing the paperwork to apply for my divorce, and the proof on Ron's incarceration so I can sell my apartment. I don't know when you got the chance to ask him for the paperwork but thank you." She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I actually hadn't had the chance yet to be honest. I was going to do that this morning when we got up. Apparently Kingsley just knows you well." Draco said kissing her forehead.

"Hmm. Apparently he does. I sent the filled in application back with the owl. According to the form, it should take about two weeks to be finalized. They'll send me confirmation by return owl once it's done." She leaned her head against Draco's chest. "Two weeks and I'll be officially divorced. It feels a little strange. Strange, but…good."

"Did Kingsley say how long Ron's sentence was?"

"100 days."

"I would have given the bastard at least a year." Draco responded with annoyance in his voice. "100 days is nothing."

"For a death threat charge that's the most they can really give especially when he's had a clean record until now. I know Kingsley would have pushed for longer if he could have."

"Even still he's getting a slap on the wrist if you ask me." Draco's jaw was clenched. Hermione leaned back so she could look him in the eye and smoothed her hand down his cheek.

"Draco, please, do not let Ron make you so angry. I submitted the paperwork, it's over. I will be calling a realtor this week to have the flat sold, and then everything to do with Ronald Weasley will be behind me. You are my future, he is my past, now can we please go get that brunch now? I am absolutely famished!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the door.

"Yes Ma'am!" Draco said allowing her to pull him out the door of the flat.

Draco took Hermione to a small little diner in the heart of muggle London for all day breakfast, followed by a walk downtown. They went in and out of shops, stopped for ice cream and even took in a matinee movie at a tiny little theatre where they only charged two muggle pounds for a ticket. On the way back to the flat, they stopped at a market to pick up items for dinner, as Draco was determined to cook for Hermione.

"So are you trying to tell me that you're some sort of masterchef?" Hermione teased as the entered the flat with all of the groceries.

"Masterchef? That's that show with that man who likes to scream a lot right? Ramsay something?"

"Gordon Ramsay." Hermione was giggling. "Yes Draco, that would be the one."

"Well, I never said I was that good but I can definitely hold my own in a kitchen. Just you watch, I am going to make you the best lobster tails you have ever eaten in your life."

"What makes you so sure yours will be the best I've ever had?" She said winking. Draco reached over and pulled her into him.

"Because I'm fairly certain I've already claimed that title love." He whispered suggestively in her ear. The feel of his breath against her ear made her skin erupt into tiny goosebumps.

"If you keep this up Mr. Malfoy, we will never get around to dinner." She murmured gently pushing his shoulders away from her.

"Maybe, I'm okay with that." He winked.

"As tempting as that sounds, I am starving and very excited about the amazing dinner that was promised to me." As soon as she finished speaking an elegant looking wolf patronus strode into the kitchen. As soon as Hermione saw it she had a feeling it was Astoria's.

"Draco, I am so glad to hear from Pansy that you are as understanding as I hoped you would be. As for tomorrow, I'm sure Scorpious would love to see you, so I have no issue with you coming to get him. He has a flying lesson at nine, so if you wish to talk privately before you leave with him, that would be a good time to do so. I will assume I will see you then unless I hear otherwise. Once again…thank you." The wolf finished its message and disappeared.

"So that's Astoria's patronus." Hermione said continuing to unpack the groceries.

"Mmmhmm. You're sure you're okay with spending the day with Scorpious tomorrow? I'm not rushing you or anything am I? If you need more time I'll totally under-" Hermione had planted her lips on his and slipped her tongue into his mouth kissing him passionately.

"Draco, I want you to listen to me very closely for a moment okay?" She said when she stopped kissing him. He nodded to show he was listening. "If I feel like you're moving too fast, I'll let you know I promise. When it comes to Scorpious I've been excited to meet him since the day in my office when you showed me the pictures from your wallet. I love children and he's adorable. I cannot wait to spend the day together tomorrow." Draco lifted her up onto the island as he kissed her.

"You are one hell of a woman Hermione." He said before turning to get dinner started. "You know, I was so nervous that first day when Kingsley said he wanted to reintroduce me to you. I knew you hated me and still thought of me as the same prat from our school days. I never dreamed that you would come around to even like me a little bit let alone…" He gestured his arms, "all of this."

"Well, I can't say you're entirely wrong." She winked. "Draco, after what happened at the manor during the war, I never thought I could forgive you, but as time went on, I came to realize that you didn't actually play a role there. It was Bellatrix and I also knew that if you had done anything you would have been killed. When you asked me to give you a chance to prove yourself I did because I believe everyone deserves that. You wooed me Draco Malfoy." She laughed.

"And I plan to never stop." He added as he was chopping and sautéing. _Watching him cook just might be one of the most attractive things about him. _Hermione thought to herself as she allowed her eyes to follow him around the kitchen. _Except maybe for that! _She thought, openly staring at his backside. _How had I not noticed this before? He has a great ass!_ "See something you like?" He asked wryly. He had turned his head and caught her staring at him. Hermione felt her face growing redder.

"I guess I'm busted." She laughed.

"That you are love." He said laughing with her. They chatted and flirted while he cooked and as he put the finishing touches on their meal, Hermione went into the dining room and conjured floating flames to create a romantic ambience.

"Oh Merlin, Draco you weren't kidding when you said this would be the best lobster I've ever eaten!" She said after tasting her first bite, closing her eyes and tilting her head back slightly as she savoured it. Draco grinned ear to ear.

"I'm glad you're enjoying it." He laughed. "I've never seen someone make tasting lobster look erotic before, but you my dear, definitely managed it." Hermione's eyes flew open and she started at Draco.

"How…I didn't…"She stammered blushing.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed of, believe me. It's quite the compliment as the chef." He winked.

When the meal was finished, Draco and Hermione cleared the dishes together before curling up on the couch. Hermione curled up with her legs across Draco's lap and her book in her hands while he caught a quidditch game. Peering over her book she looked at him, he was just sitting there eyes on the TV watching the game, but to her he seemed perfect. _This is what a relationship is supposed to feel like. Two days I've been with him and in that two days he has made me feel more wanted, more special than Ron ever did in twelve years. Even when we were first together it didn't feel like this. I could easily see myself falling in love with this man. _While Hermione was thinking this, Draco grabbed a hold of one of her feet and began to rub.

"Mmm Draco that feels wonderful." She said resting her book in her lap, closing her eyes and tilting her head back.

"You deserve to be pampered love. Besides you have no issues with sitting with me doing your own thing while I watch quidditch and for that alone you deserve a foot rub." She giggled.

"Why does that make me deserving of a- oooooh." He rubbed over a particularly sensitive part of her foot and she lost her entire train of thought making Draco laugh.

"The fact that you have to ask me that, because it's so normal to you that we can do separate things together, is exactly why you deserve it."

"I still don't understand what's so special about that."

"Most women I've met always want their men to be doing something with them or for them. Very few are just okay to sit and read while their boyfriend watches quidditch." Hermione wrinkled her nose.

"That doesn't sound like a very equal partnership." She said picking her book back up. "I wouldn't want to be with someone who didn't have their own interests. It would be rather annoying if I wanted to read and you were sitting there staring at me waiting for me to decide to do something else."

"Which is exactly why you're perfect." He continued stroking her feet and turned his eyes back to the TV. "Go back to your book love." They sat in comfortable silence until they were both ready to go to bed. Hermione curled herself into Draco under the covers and was asleep within moments. Draco laid there a little bit longer, watching her chest rise and fall with each breath wondering how he, Draco Lucius Malfoy had ended up with a woman like Hermione Granger. It wasn't long before he too was asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Thank you, all of you for your patience, waiting for an update from me. I don't currently have internet so updating regularly is a bit of a challenge. Hoping to have that rectified soon though.**

**To all those who reviewed, thank you so much for taking the time to do so! It means the world to me! As I go on, I also try to take your criticisms into account. I'm working on trying to make the grammar a bit better as well as trying to avoid heavy blocks of text without breaks. It changes a bit from my original to here in formatting so please forgive my prior errors where paragraph breaks are concerned. :)**

Draco awoke at the sound of his alarm clock and quickly reached over to shut it off before it woke Hermione. Hermione stretched and rolled over to face him.

"I'm sorry love, I didn't mean to wake you." Draco said brushing the hair from her face.

"I don't mind. I wanted to get up and get ready for the day anyway. This way I can relax and take my time, perhaps soak in a bath for a while." She smiled and watched him get out of bed. _If only we had more time this morning. _Hermione thought as she allowed her eyes to travel up and down Draco's body, naked except for a tight pair of boxer briefs. She bit her lip as her eyes fell on the rather erect bulge between his legs.

"Love, the way you're looking at me right now is making it exceptionally difficult for me to want to leave this room." Draco said grinning slyly at her. Hermione forced herself to look into his eyes.

"Perhaps, that is the point Mr. Malfoy." She winked in response. "But you have to. I get the impression Astoria would not take too kindly to you being late. Now go, get in the shower." She said making a shooing gesture with her hands. Draco made an exaggerated bowing gesture.

"As you wish my dear." He straightened, and turned to get into the shower blowing Hermione a kiss as he went.

Draco arrived on the Malfoy Manor doorstep right on time and Astoria came and greeted him at the doorway with a friendly hug. She was wearing a white blouse and tailored black pants, her sleek black hair pulled into a bun with just a few strands left out to frame her face. She looked elegant as usual, you would never catch Astoria Greengrass-Malfoy in jeans.

"Scorpius is already out back having his lesson. He's really excited to spend the day with you." She said as they walked to the breakfast nook that looked out through French doors onto the backyard. Astoria poured them both coffee and came to sit with Draco at the little bistro table by the window. "So, Pansy said you had something you wished to discuss?" She had never been one to circle an issue, but instead preferred to get right to the point.

"I'm excited to see him too, and yes I did. I think it's time we discuss legally separating, and figuring out how to tell Scorpius." Draco figured it was best to also get to the point.

"You wish to legally separate?" She said gently setting down her mug. "I thought we agreed that for Scorpius' sake as well as our public image, we would keep up appearances. I realize you now know about Pansy, but it's not like you haven't had women of your own over the years."

"I know that is what we agreed to, and you're right about the women." He gently took Astoria's hand in his across the table. "But I am tired of living a lie. If you and Pansy are as happy as it appears, then she deserves to have you to herself and not have to hide in the shadows of our public image."

Astoria appeared to be pondering something. "Why do I have this overwhelming feeling that my relationship with Pansy is not the only reason you have suddenly changed your mind? And what about Scorpius?"

"You know me well Astoria. You're right. That is not the only reason. I also have started seeing someone and unlike the rest of the women I may have seen in the past, I think this could have potential to be something…real." He paused to sip his coffee. "I owe it to her to not hide her like a dirty secret, nor do I want to. As for Scorpius, he's young. He will bounce back from this. I think now, it is better for him to see his parents happy and apart rather than miserable together."

A small tear streaked down Astoria's cheek. "You…you've been…miserable…with me?" She asked quietly while staring intently at her coffee mug. Draco squeezed her hand.

"I wouldn't say I have always been miserable, but I think, at times, both of us have been extremely unhappy with this arrangement. Obviously, or we wouldn't have sought the affections of others. Astoria, this isn't a punishment. You will keep Malfoy Manor so that you and Scorpius can continue to live just as you have been. I will leave it to you if you also want to wait to tell him."

"No, I think it is best to tell him the truth before you leave. Then he can have his day with you to take his mind off of it. For the record, I wasn't even thinking about our assets Draco. Now, will whoever this mystery woman is, be meeting my son today?" There was a slight venomous tone to her question.

"Actually yes. I have no intention of letting him know who she is to me yet however. As far as Scorpius is concerned she is my friend until I feel it is appropriate for him to know otherwise."

"Who is she?" Astoria asked with narrowed eyes. She had pulled her hand out of his and was cupping them around her coffee mug. "This woman that has clearly stolen your heart. Someone I know?"

"As a matter of fact, yes you know of her. I'm not sure you've ever met personally however. It's Hermione Granger. I'm seeing Hermione Granger."

Astoria nearly spat her coffee everywhere. "Hermione Granger? Don't you mean MRS. Hermione WEASLEY? Assistant to the Minister for Magic?" She emphasized the name. "The one you've been working with in your job at the ministry? Isn't she married to Ronald Weasley the quidditch player? And if I am not at all mistaken, she is a muggle-born who during the war was tortured under this roof by your crazy Aunt Bellatrix? How in the name of Salazar Slytherin did you end up with her?"

Draco had been somewhat prepared for this kind of reaction to telling his wife the name of the woman he was seeing, however knowing that she herself was happily in a relationship with someone else, he had thought would have cushioned the blow. "Yes Astoria, that Hermione Granger and she is leaving Ron. Sent in her divorce papers this morning as a matter of fact, and I thought you got over this pureblood supremacy crap years ago? Why does it matter that she is muggle-born? And yes we have a nasty history, but we moved past that in the months we were working in the same office before anything happened. It's not like I have been seeing her long, not that it really matters given the fact that you yourself are currently with my best friend! And do you have a problem with her meeting Scorpius?"

"I…you're right Draco." She sighed. "I guess this is all just…a shock…not that it should be. We haven't had an actual marriage in years and you're right, that is no way to live and no example to set for our son. I just…I do wonder what all those other women, and now Hermione, have that I didn't. It doesn't really matter I guess now that I am with Pansy, but I have always wondered." She paused. "And no I suppose I don't have a problem with her meeting our son."

"It has never been a question of you lacking something love. It's just that we don't fit well together. Clearly there was something about me that was lacking as well…presumably the whole, not being female part." He laughed trying to break the tension a little. Astoria smiled.

"Yes well, you were raised in a pureblood family too, you know how we were brought up. You get married to another pureblood, arranged by the families, have an heir and then stay married regardless of whether or not you're happy. Not to mention how frowned upon my relationship with Pansy would have been. I avoided those feelings for years, convincing myself it was a phase. Until that night with Pansy…" She trailed off.

"Yes, Pansy did tell me about your uh, 'girl's night' with the red wine." Draco winked.

"She…she did…"Astoria was blushing a deep shade of crimson. "What exactly did she tell you?"

"Don't worry, she didn't tell me details. She just said there was a lot of red wine, and things kind of just happened. We should probably discuss how to handle telling Scorpius though since it looks like his lesson is finishing up." Draco said looking out the window and noticing that Scorpius and his instructor were touching back down onto the grass.

"I would like to do most of the talking, if you don't mind."

"That's fine with me."

Just then a pale little boy with blonde hair and piercing green eyes came bounding into the room from outside.

"Daddy!" He yelled running up to Draco and throwing his arms around him.

"Hiya buddy!" Draco replied hoisting his son up and on to his lap. "I hear your flying lessons are going well."

"Yes Daddy, I'm gonna play Quidditch one day!"

"Oh yeah? For what house do you plan to play?" Draco said quirking his eyebrow.

"Slytherin!" Scorpius exclaimed loudly. Draco gave his son a big hug and ruffled his hair.

"So listen, before we go mummy and I want to have a word with you okay?"

"Did I do something wrong?" Scorpius asked pouting.

"No sweetie you didn't." Astoria said leaning towards him across the table. "Daddy and I just wanted to tell you something, that's all."

"Okay. What is it mummy?"

"Well…you know how daddy doesn't always sleep here?"

"Yeah, he sleeps at the flat because it's near his work." Scorpius answered.

"Well, from now on daddy is going to live there all the time, and mummy is going to live here with you." She paused before continuing. "Scorpius, mummy and daddy are separating sweetheart, do you know what that means?"

Scorpius screwed up his face to show he was thinking hard. "It means…you won't be together anymore…right?"

"Yes buddy, that's what it means." Draco said giving his son a squeeze.

"Daddy? Does this mean I won't see you anymore?" Scorpius looked on the verge of tears and Draco held him tighter.

"Not at all Scorpius! It just means that mummy and I…aren't in love with each other anymore…but we still love you and want to spend time with you. Sometimes you'll stay with me at the flat, or we will visit and do things, but most of the time you'll live here with mummy, just like you have been. Nothing changes how we feel about you."

"Okay daddy." Scorpius said with a small smile. "I still spend the day with you?"

"Of course buddy, and you are going to meet daddy's friend Hermione too if that's okay with you?" Scorpius nodded and smiled before sliding off Draco's lap. He sauntered over to Astoria and reached out to hug her.

"Have a good day with daddy hunny, I'll see you tonight after dinner." She crouched down and hugged him tighter and gave him a big kiss. Draco stood up and took his sons hand.

"I'll uh, have my lawyers draw something up then?" He said quietly to Astoria as they all walked towards the front door.

"Yes, that's fine. Just owl it over and I'll review it." She managed a small smile as she opened the door to let Draco and Scorpius out. She crouched down to Scorpius' level once more. "I love you my beautiful boy. Have a good day today." She said kissing his forehead.

"Love you too mummy. Goodbye." He said before starting to pull Draco down the steps towards Draco's car.

"Goodbye Astoria, and thank you. For everything." Draco called back to her as he descended the steps with his son.

"Don't worry about it Draco." She said going back inside the house and closing the door.

Once Draco had made sure Scorpius was safely in his booster seat, he sent Hermione a quick patronus letting her know he was on his way back. When he arrived at the flat, she was already waiting downstairs for them and holding a rather large picnic basket. Draco was rather surprised, but pleased, to notice she had come across his old Slytherin Quidditch t-shirt and was wearing it with a pair of light denim jeans and sneakers with her hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail. He stared open-mouthed at her as she opened the car door for the backseat.

"Hello, you must be Scorpius." Hermione said cheerfully as she placed the picnic basket on the backseat beside him. To her surprise he held out his hand for her to shake.

"Hello, yes I am Scorpius and you must be Herm-oh-knee." He said as she shook his little hand.

"Yes I am Hermione." She said grinning, and not making any sort of fuss over his mispronunciation of her name. In fact she thought it was adorable. "How are you?"

"I'm okay. Mummy and daddy told me they're not gonna be together anymore and at first I was sad but I'm okay now." Hermione wasn't quite sure what to say in response, so she just smiled and got in the front seat.

"I see you found my shirt." Draco said quietly once Hermione was settled in the front seat.

"I did. It's very comfortable." She winked in response.

"If my son wasn't with us…" He whispered so Scorpius wouldn't hear. Hermione just flashed a cheeky grin at him before turning her head to speak to Scorpius.

"What would you like to do today Scorpius? Would you like to go to the zoo?" Scorpius' eyes widened and he nodded excitedly.

"The zoo it is then!" Draco said with a big grin before putting the car into drive and driving away from the flat. "I see you packed us a picnic." He said to Hermione as he drove.

"I did. Finger sandwiches, fruit and some snacks, plus a blanket for us to sit on."

"You never cease to amaze me Hermione Granger."

"It's just lunch Draco." She said laughing. "I wanted to do something nice for you and Scorpius so I thought I would pack us all lunch."

"Well, thank you Hermione I'm sure it'll be wonderful."

It didn't take them long to get to the London Zoo, and once they arrived they got Scorpius out of his booster and headed to the gates. Scorpius was practically twittering with excitement as Draco paid the entrance fees and guided them inside.

"What should we see first son?" He asked Scorpius once they were past the gates and standing in front of a large map of all the exhibits. Scorpius scrunched his face again in thought.

"Can we go see the polar bears? I like them very much." He asked before turning to Hermione. "Herm-oh-knee, do you like polar bears too?"

"I do, yes. They're very beautiful animals. Do you know what the scientific name for polar bear is?" She asked him as they started walking in the direction of the polar bear enclosure, with Draco holding onto his son's hand. He shook his head no. "It's Ursus Maritimus. I think I like the sound of polar bear better, how about you?"

"I like polar bear too, it's easier to say. You're really smart Herm-oh-knee."

"Well, thank you Scorpius. I think you're really smart too. You're a very well-spoken boy for your age." Scorpius beamed up at her and gave her a huge smile.

"Thanks!"

"Scorpius, did you know Hermione and I were at school together?" Draco asked looking down at his son. Again, Scorpius shook his head no. "We were. Daddy was very jealous of how smart Hermione was. She was top of the class in every subject."

"Is that true Herm-oh-knee?" Scorpius asked her with wide eyes.

"Well, yes. I was top of our year at Hogwarts."

"Wow! That's awesome! What house were you in? I want to be in Slytherin and play quidditch like my daddy did."

"I was in Gryffindor house. I couldn't fly to save my life though, that's one thing where your father has me beat. I never did learn how to fly a broom. You like quidditch Scorpius?"

"Daddy says Gryffindor is a fine house should I not end up in Slytherin, but I think I will. Quidditch is the best sport ever! I'm taking flying lessons so that I'll be good enough to play. Maybe my daddy can teach you to fly. He's really good."

"I would gladly teach Hermione to fly if she wanted to learn, that's a good idea Scorpius." Draco said smiling at Hermione.

"Maybe I'll just keep my feet firmly planted on the ground for now, and just let you two fly around on broomsticks." Hermione answered. She never did like flying, and though Ron had tried to teach her a time or two, she had never gotten the hang of it. They had reached the polar bear enclosure at last.

"Daddy! Herm-oh-knee! Look!" Scorpius was bouncing up and down excitedly pointing at the bears. Draco lifted him up and put him on his shoulders so he could have a better view.

"Look son, there's baby polar bears over there, do you see them?" Draco asked pointing to the one corner of the pen where three baby polar bears were playing together.

"Yeah daddy! Look! They're all playing! They're so cute!" Draco and Hermione laughed together watching Scorpius' eyes go wide watching the bears.

After the polar bears, they went to see the seals and the penguins. Scorpius seemed to like the penguins almost as much as the bears. ("Look how they waddle Herm-oh-knee! They're funny!") Before long it was time to eat lunch. They found a little grassy hill where there weren't too many people and spread out they blanket Hermione had packed and sat down on it to eat.

"So if you were in Gryffindor house why are you wearing a Slytherin shirt?" Scorpius asked Hermione between bites of his sandwich. Hermione looked quickly over at Draco who looked like he was torn between choking on his own sandwich and breaking down into laughter.

"I, uh, well…I" She struggled for an answer. She couldn't very well have said it was because she liked his dad and therefore thought he would enjoy seeing her in his old shirt.

"It's just a little joke son. Hermione knew I played quidditch for Slytherin in school, so she thought she would show support, that's all." Draco said trying not to laugh. Scorpius seemed to ponder this for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and taking another bite of his sandwich.

"Your son is very smart Draco." Hermione whispered to Draco while Scorpius was distracted by a small bug in the grass.

"I told you he reminds me a bit of you in that way." Draco answered smiling at her. "Are you having fun?"

"Of course. Scorpius is adorable. Mind you, his father isn't half bad looking himself." She winked.

"Daddy can we see more animals please?" Scorpius asked when the bug was no longer interesting to him.

"Sure thing son, let's just get this packed up shall we?" They packed everything back into the picnic basket and Draco used a shrinking charm so he could pocket it. "Where to next?"

"I want to see the lions!" Scorpius answered excitedly.

"Lions it is then!" Draco said taking his hand. They spent the rest of the afternoon walking around looking at the different animals, finishing just before dinner at the gift shop near the exit.

"Daddy, Herm-oh-knee look!" Scorpius said dragging them over to a display of stuffed polar bear cubs. "They look just like the real ones we saw!"

"Would you like one to take home Scorpius?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah! Thanks Herm-oh-knee! Is it okay daddy?" He asked looking up at Draco.

"Of course it is son. Go pick one you like." Scorpius reached out and grabbed one of the polar bear cubs and handed it to Hermione so she could pay for it. As she took it from him, he gave her a big hug around the legs nearly knocking her over.

"Thank you so much Herm-oh-knee! You're awesome!" he said before he released her.

"Oh you're welcome Scorpius! I'm glad you've had a good day." She paid for the bear and handed it back to him. Draco was positively beaming looking at the exchange between his son and his girlfriend.

"Where would you like to eat dinner son?" Draco asked as they walked back to the car.

"Can we have burgers daddy?"

"I suppose we could. There's a little muggle diner near here that does a really great burger. Is that okay with you Hermione?"

"That's fine with me. Let's go." She said smiling as she helped Scorpius get into his booster seat.

After their dinner they loaded back into the car to take Scorpius back home.

"Daddy?" Scorpius asked from the back seat clutching his new bear.

"Yes son?"

"If you and mummy aren't together anymore, does that mean you'll be with someone else some day?" Hermione and Draco shared a look.

"Uh, well…yes…Scorpius…one day…" Draco stammered

"I think it should be Herm-oh-knee." He said yawning. "She's nice."

"Thank you Scorpius." Hermione said smiling as they pulled up in front of Malfoy Manor.

Astoria must have heard the car pull up, as within seconds, she was standing in the doorway waiting for Draco to bring Scorpius to the door. Hermione stayed in the car. It was awkward enough as it was, especially after Scorpius announcing that he thought his father should date her, not knowing they already were. It was nice to know she had his sons blessing, but she knew it was far too soon for him to know given he had only just found out about his parents splitting up. As soon as he was unbuckled, Scorpius went bounding up to his mother clutching his bear, with Draco right behind him. Hermione couldn't hear what was being said, but she watched as Scorpius showed his mother the bear, and then pointed towards the car waving. Astoria gave a tiny, somewhat forced looking smile in Hermione's direction and a tiny polite little wave. She waved back awkwardly. Draco said his goodbyes to his son, kneeling down and kissing the boys cheeks and gave Astoria a quick friendly hug before walking back to the car.

"Well, my son is quite smitten with you love." Draco said as he re-entered the car.

"I'm quite smitten with him as well. He's such a sweet and intelligent little boy, and intuitive too apparently." She smiled.

"Yes, he's always been able to pick up on things. I almost wonder if that's why he was so understanding of Astoria and I splitting up. He's probably picked up on it at some point."

"It's possible, especially if you weren't living at the Manor fulltime as it was. He seemed to really enjoy the zoo."

"He loves animals. He was very thrilled with that bear you bought him Hermione. He couldn't wait to run up and tell Astoria all about how his new friend Herm-oh-knee bought him a toy." Draco said saying her name the way Scorpius did.

"Astoria seemed to be trying to be polite. She waved at me."

"Yes well, Astoria isn't one to be impolite. Especially to someone she knows is important to me." He placed a hand on her knee. "But her opinion isn't the one that matters to me, it's Scorpius' and he seems to just love you. Not that I didn't think he would." Draco was grinning. Hermione laid her hand on top of his.

"And you have no idea how thrilled I am that he likes me. It was very nerve wracking meeting your son you know." She said smiling at him.

"You didn't seem the least bit nervous. You were amazing." They pulled into their parking spot at the flat and Draco turned the engine off. "If I wasn't already smitten with you myself, I would have been after watching the two of you together. You really are great with children." He said taking her hand as they made their way upstairs.

"Thank you Draco. I'm pretty smitten with you too you know." She smiled as Draco unlocked the door. He put his hand on her lower back and guided her through the doorway. The moment they were through the door Hermione had her back pressed against it, with Draco's lips on hers. She closed her eyes and took in the sensation of his kisses, his hands stroking the flesh just underneath the hemline of her shirt. She whimpered as she felt him press himself against her, then suddenly, he stopped. She opened her eyes slowly. He was still almost pressed against her, and he was smirking. His hands resting on her hips.

"I have been wanting to do that all day, ever since I saw you in my shirt." Draco said still smirking but was backing away into the apartment. "Would you like a glass of wine?" He asked heading towards the kitchen.

"Sure thank you." Hermione sat down on the couch and turned to watch him pour red wine into two glasses. "As for the shirt, I thought that might be your reaction to it."

"Oh you did, did you? Did you also know I instantly pictured you wearing nothing BUT the shirt?" He winked as he brought in the glasses and sat down beside her.

"If the way you looked at me this morning was an indication then yes, I did know that might have been something you were thinking about." She grinned and sipped her wine. She paused and frowned a little. "So, Astoria is very pretty."

"I tell you I was imagining you wearing just my quidditch shirt, and you want to talk about my soon to be ex wife?" He quirked an eyebrow.

"Well…I just…noticed that she's very pretty. Very, well put together." She swirled the wine in her glass, staring at it. She heard a clink as Draco set his down and felt his fingers gently tilt her chin up to look at him.

"Astoria may be pretty, but she is no you. You are the one I can't keep my hands off of, you are the one I want to be with. I have never been attracted to Astoria the way I am to you."

"But she…looked so put-together and all she was doing was spending the day at home, and here I am in jeans and a t-shirt." She said with a slight tone of uncertainty.

"Hermione. Listen to me. I love that you wear jeans and t-shirts! Do you think Astoria would have ever thought to wear this shirt? Never in a million years. You look amazing dressed like this, and you look amazing dressed to the nines. The point is that no matter what you are wearing I think you look amazing." He paused and she smiled at him. "Though, if you still have that Gryffindor Hogwarts uniform and feel inclined to put that on, that may just give me a heart attack." He said winking. Hermione laughed.

"Funnily enough…I think I do have it somewhere." She said and Draco's eyes looked like they might bulge out of his head.

"Seriously? Do you know where? Because that would fulfill every fantasy I had as a boy growing up at Hogwarts…you have no idea how many times you and that uniform…well…you get the point." He said grinning.

"Draco Malfoy you pervert!" She said playfully smacking his arm. "Who knows, maybe if you're a good boy I'll find it as a reward." She winked.

"Mmm, don't tease." Draco said taking a sip of wine. "So I do actually have something I want to ask you." He turned to look at her, a serious expression on his face. Hermione placed her wine on the side table and turned to face him.

"Okay, go ahead." She said looking at him intently.

"I was invited to this black tie event coming up in about a month and a half and I thought maybe it would be the perfect time for us to come out publically as a couple since I know there will be press there. What do you think?" He looked nervous.

"I think that is a great idea Draco. Though, we do keep going out publically together, so I doubt it'll be that long before someone figures it out. But if you want that to be our official confirmation to the world that we are in fact, together, I am very okay with that." Draco grinned and pulled her towards him for a kiss. Hermione climbed off the couch and stood in front of him. He quirked an eyebrow wondering what she was up to until her hands slid down her torso to the top button of her jeans.

As realization set in, he leaned back against the couch cushions taking a deep breath. Hermione moved her hips slowly while unbuttoning her jeans. "You said you wanted to know what this shirt looked like with nothing else." She said eyeing him seductively as she wriggled out of the tight jeans, stepping out of her socks as she did. Draco's eyes scanned her body, lingering on the green lacy underwear she was wearing. The sight of her wearing his quidditch shirt, with Slytherin green panties that he could practically see through was enough to make his mouth water and his cock hard.

Hermione straddled Draco's lap and reached behind herself to unclasp her bra under her shirt. Slowly she pulled it through the arm sleeve and dropped it on the floor. Draco licked his lips as he stared openly at the peaks her hard nipples were creating through the shirt. He reached up and slid the elastic out of her hair so it came tumbling down around her shoulders.

"That shirt has never looked as sexy as it does right now." He said his voice husky with desire. His grey eyes had gone molten and as she was straddling his lap, she could feel how hard he was and how it was straining against his jeans. Hermione grabbed Draco's hands and placed them over her breasts as she gyrated her hips slowly, moving against him. Slowly he ran his thumbs across her nipples, feeling them tauten further as he did. She tilted her head back pushing her breasts further into his hands. Draco couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed a hold of her rear end and lifted her up with him and carried her down the hallway to their bedroom. Hermione gave him a seductive grin as they reached the edge of the bed, just before he dropped her on to it none to gently. He watched her chest heave up and down with her heavy breathing as he disrobed. First his polo, then his jeans and boxers and socks. He stood naked in front of her, watching her eyes rove over his body as he cast a contraception charm, before climbing onto the bed and swiftly pinning both arms above her head with one hand.

Hermione's eyes went wide as she looked up at him, hovering over her, while she was completely unable to move. He leaned his head down and suckled on her neck causing her to writhe beneath him.

"Let me touch you." She breathed panting as he teased her neck and collarbone with his tongue. He shook his head no and continued to hold her by the wrists. He kissed her lips and used his free hand to lightly pinch and twist her nipples through her shirt. Draco could feel Hermione squirming, trying to free her hands while simultaneously trying to create more bodily contact and friction. He pinched her nipple harder and she moaned into his mouth.

"You like that do you?" He asked her as he continued to tease her breasts. "Hmmm. I have an idea." He said releasing her hands and climbing off the bed. He began rummaging in his closet.

"Wh-what are y-you doing?" Hermione asked still breathing heavily.

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course."

"Then just trust me, I think you'll like what I have in mind." Draco ceased his rummaging. "Close your eyes." Hermione did as she was told. Suddenly she felt his warm mouth suckling her nipple through her shirt. She arched her back and moaned as he teased her through the fabric. He slid his hands under the hemline and slowly lifted it over her head and tossed it on the floor. Suddenly she felt something silky against her left wrist. Draco was tying something around it.

"Draco, wh-what-"

"Close your eyes and trust me love. If you don't like it I'll stop I promise." She closed her eyes again.

"I trust you Draco." She said quietly as she felt him tie her wrist to the bed post. He repeated the process on her right wrist. When he was done he stopped and gently kissed her lips before she felt something silky across her eyes.

"Lift your head love." He said gently. Once again she did as she was asked and felt him tie the blindfold behind her head. She gently tugged against her restraints and found there was no way she would be able to get out of this. She would have to trust Draco completely. This was entirely new to her, being completely powerless and her heart thumped against her chest both from nerves, and anticipation. Draco straddled her and looked down at his handiwork. Hermione's wrists were bound to the headboard by two of his old school ties, and a third was being used to blindfold her.

"Good lord you're beautiful." He ran his fingertips down her belly to her hips at an agonizingly slow pace. Hermione didn't respond with anything other than a soft whimpering moan. He could see her biting her bottom lip in pleasure as he continued trailing his fingers all over her. Her breathing was becoming more erratic the more he teased her skin, bringing his fingertips close to her nipples but not actually touching them.

"D-Draco!" She panted.

"Yes love?" He said calmly as he finally swiped his thumb gently over her nipple. Her back arched and she inhaled sharply. He repeated the action to the other nipple.

"T-touch me…please!" She begged. He slid his hand down between them and ran his fingers over the crotch of her underwear, just hard enough that she would feel him, but not hard enough to give her any relief.

"You're soaked Hermione." He whispered in her ear as he pulled his hand away and began pinching her nipples, alternating between them. He kissed her neck and moved so that his cock pushed against the barrier of her lacy bottoms.

"Oh Draco, please!" She begged panting harder than ever and straining against her bindings.

"Not yet love." Draco said with a grin as he pinched both of her nipples hard at the same time. Once again Hermione arched her back and cried out in pleasure. Draco took her left nipple in his mouth and sucked, lightly at first then harder. He nipped it gently with his teeth and switched to the right. As she writhed beneath him, begging for more, Draco moved down her body nipping her skin with his teeth and flicking his tongue across the freshly bitten skin. When he reached the apex of her thighs he blew air against the wetness pooled in her panties making her shiver uncontrollably. He flicked his tongue out and stroked her clit through the fabric.

"Oh Draco, Oh Merlin! Please don't stop, I beg you!" But he did stop and Hermione let out a noise of such frustration that Draco had to stifle a laugh. He moved lower, continuing his assault on her body by moving down her legs. He lifted her leg in the air and swirled his tongue in the hollow behind her knee, and delighted in watching Hermione squirm with pleasure. He did the same to the other leg before sliding up and kissing her mouth. Once again he pushed himself against the lace barrier and slid himself up and down against her. Hermione wrapped her legs around him and bucked her hips against him in time with his strokes. When he could feel her legs shaking and shivering he stopped abruptly. "In the name of Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin, Draco Malfoy please fuck me!" She yelled in frustration.

"Feeling a little…frustrated are we love?" Draco whispered in Hermione's ear while making sure not to touch her.

"Draco Malfoy I will get you back for this!" She said fighting against her restraints.

"Do you want to come?" He asked as he began sliding off her underwear painstakingly slowly.

"Yes!" She moaned. "Yes, please Draco!" He cast her underwear aside onto the floor. Hermione felt him lower himself between her legs and flick his tongue against her. Her legs shivered uncontrollably with each tongue stroke. She bucked her hips, meeting his mouth as he licked and sucked. "Oh Draco!" She yelled arching her back as her orgasm washed over her. Hermione felt like she might pass out it felt so good. Never in her life had she felt anything like it. Draco gave her a moment to come down as he untied her restraints and un-blindfolded her. She slowly opened her eyes and blinked up at him as he massaged her wrists. "That was…" Draco silenced her with a finger against her lips.

"It's not over yet love. I just wanted you to be able to see and touch me." He kissed her passionately, and without warning thrust himself inside her. Hermione gasped at the sudden fullness and bucked her hips in response. "Mmm, Hermione, you feel amazing!" He could feel her hands gripping him, nails digging into his back as he pumped in and out of her. She wrapped her legs tightly around him, and he used the opportunity to flip them so she was on top. Draco had to work very hard not to come yet as he took in the sight before him. Hermione had sat up straight and was sliding up and down his cock, gyrating her hips in a figure eight motion. Her head was tilted back and her breasts were bouncing with every movement. He grabbed a hold of her hips, and thrusted hard into her. Every time she slid down he thrusted upwards.

"Oh Draco! I-I'm going to come!" Hermione cried out and Draco could feel her muscles tightening around him. She fell forward onto his chest as her orgasm hit her, and he continued pumping in and out until his own climax hit him and he called her name.

Draco wrapped his arms around her as she lay on top of him, completely satiated.

"Are you okay Hermione?" He asked.

"I-I'm fine I've just never experienced anything like that before." Hermione answered. Draco rolled her gently beside him so her head was still on his chest.

"Which part?" Draco laughed airily.

"All of it. I've never been tied up or blindfolded before, nor have I ever been teased quite like that." Her breathing had finally slowed to normal.

"Well love, I can promise that I will make sure you have every experience you can dream of and more. I want you to always be completely satisfied." He kissed her forehead.

"If you keep making love to me like that, I personally guarantee you I always will be."

"I'll keep that in mind." Draco winked. "Shall we go finish our wine or would you prefer to stay here?"

"Stay here. I could easily fall asleep like this. If you want to of course." Hermione snuggled closer and placed a chaste kiss on his chest.

"No place I would rather be."


	7. Chapter 7

It had been almost two weeks since Hermione retuned to work. With Ron in Azkaban and their divorce almost finalized, there was no more reason to be on a leave of absence. In between meetings and paperwork she managed to get in touch with a realtor to make the appropriate arrangements to put her flat up for sale and it sold remarkably quickly. Draco also had his lawyers draft a separation agreement which Astoria signed without contest. Pretty soon both of them would be free and clear and there would be nothing holding them back when the time came for them to come out with their relationship to the public.

Hermione was busy filling in a request for Kingsley when she heard a soft tapping at her office window. A tawny owl was waiting there with a thick envelope attached to its ankle. She immediately got up and allowed the owl inside. Paying it a sickle, she removed the envelope and allowed it to fly away. It was in fact, exactly what she had thought it was. Her divorce papers. She was legally free of Ron at last. As she reviewed the many pages confirming the dissolution of their marriage, another owl came swooping in the window and dropped a letter in her lap before quickly swooping back out again.

"What the-" Hermione exclaimed out loud as she set aside the legal papers and picked up the small envelope from her lap. She immediately recognized the untidy scrawl of her name on the front. "Ron…" She whispered staring at it. Slowly, as if she thought it might burst into flame, she opened it and unfolded the letter from inside it.

_ Hermione,_

_ I assume you have received our divorce papers by now. I got sent confirmation to my cell a couple of days ago. I've also come to found out you sold our flat and are living with the Ferret. How dare you embarrass me like this? First throwing me in Azkaban after lying to me about HIM. Now selling our home and living with that slimy git! You disgust me you filthy lying whore. I should have listened to mum and left you when everything happened with Harry but I didn't. I loved you. I don't think you ever loved me. I wish I had killed you the last time I beat you, at least then there would be a good reason for me to be in this hellhole! You will pay for this one day…_

_ Ron._

Hermione was shaking from head to toe as she finished the letter. Ron had said he wished he had taken her life, and that she would pay. He had only been in there a few weeks, was it possible he was already going crazy or did he really mean that? She felt the tears sliding down her cheeks and quickly brushed them away as the door to her office opened.

"Love? Are you almost done-" Draco froze as he caught site of her. She was still holding the letter and her hands were shaking. "What's wrong?" He came rushing beside her and turned her desk chair to look at him. "Hermione, tell me what happened?" She could hear the worry in his voice as he looked from the divorce papers to her and then to the letter in her hands. She slowly handed him the letter and watched as his eyes ran across the sloppily scrawled words, his mouth drawing into a tight, thin line, his hands balling into fists.

"I-it came right after the divorce papers did." Hermione said quietly as Draco turned to look at her once more.

"How dare he say these things to you! You had every right to leave him after what he's put you through! And I wonder who his source is that knows you're living with me." He said angrily. "Probably Potter." He added with disdain.

"Well Draco we haven't exactly been being very subtle have we? Coming in together every morning, leaving together every night. The entire ministry probably knows, so I wouldn't actually be surprised if Harry did as well." She paused, looking deep into his eyes. " I don't care that Ron knows about us, but I am a little worried about his assurance that I will pay for putting him in there and leaving him. He was already losing his grip before going in there and…you know what Azkaban can do to people."

"I'm sure it's just an empty threat, but even still when he gets out we will just have to be careful, increase security around you for a while. Make sure he can't get anywhere near you. We have another two and a half months before he gets out, and if he tries to hurt you when he does I'll kill him myself." Draco growled wrapping Hermione in his arms. "I won't let anything happen to you I promise."

"Can we go home Draco? I just want this day to be over."

"Sure thing love." He answered helping her to her feet and slipping Ron's letter into the envelope with the divorce papers. "Let's just put this stuff away and forget about it." Hermione nodded and opened her bottom desk drawer, the one she never used. "There. Now, let's go home and order a pizza and drink some wine. Sound good?" He smiled and linked hands with her.

"Sounds perfect." Hermione answered and allowed herself to be led out of her office, locking it behind her as she left. You couldn't apparate or disapparate in the office section of the ministry, so they caught a lift down to the mezzanine level and prepared to apparate home.

"Hermione!" She heard a voice call after her and she immediately turned her head. It was a voice she hadn't heard in a decade.

"What do you want Potter?" Draco responded scathingly.

"I called Hermione's name not yours Ferret." Harry Potter said through gritted teeth before turning to Hermione herself. "I uh, wanted you to know I went to see Ron in Azkaban after I…heard. He's not doing well in there Hermione. He's not himself."

"Yes well, do you really expect me to care what state of mind he's in? He can go mad as a hatter in there for all I care…Speaking of which, I'm sure then that it was you who told him about Draco and I?" Harry stared at his shoes.

"How did you…nevermind…He kept asking if you were with someone else, if that was why you were leaving him. I couldn't lie to him Hermione. You are living with Malfoy are you not?"

"That was none of Ron's business Harry! Especially when neither of us have even spoken to you in ten years! You really are the boy without brains…" She yelled back at him.

"Come on Hermione let's just leave he isn't worth it." Draco said trying to guide Hermione away. "Stay away from her Potter. You've ruined enough of her life." And with that Draco pulled Hermione close and disapparated, leaving a rather stunned looking Harry behind.

Hermione and Draco reappeared on the stoop of their flat. Draco unlocked the door and guided Hermione in, the same way he did most days, with his hand on the small of her back.

"That bastard!" Hermione exclaimed as soon as the door was shut while kicking her shoes off. "That pretentious, self-righteous ass!" She was storming down the hallway to their bedroom now. Draco was sure he hadn't seen her this angry since she punched him in third year, but he followed her anyway. She was stripping off her work clothes as she walked and by the time she made it to the bedroom she was just in her black underwear and bra."What makes him think he had the right to tell Ron anything! He walked out of Ron's life and now just pops back in to gossip? How dare he!" She yelled as she flung herself onto the bed. Draco sat down beside her and stroked her bare back. Hermione was breathing heavily and he could tell she was crying.

"Love? As much as I agree with everything you just said, neither him, nor Ron is worth your tears." He moved her hair aside exposing her neck and placed a small kiss there. "I won't let anything happen to you. I promise." She took a deep breath to compose herself and rolled over to look up at Draco. She reached up and placed her hand on his cheek.

"You are one amazing man Draco Lucius Malfoy. I'm sorry I fell apart. I just couldn't believe that the first time he spoke to me in ten years was to try and tell me how poorly Ron is doing at Azkaban. As if I should care after what he's done."

"Potter better stay away from you from now on or he can answer to me. I won't let him upset you like this." Hermione still had her hand on his cheek as she looked into his eyes. He smiled at her and leaned forward to kiss her, gently sucking her bottom lip. He held out his hand to help her off the bed. "Come, let's get changed into something comfortable and I'll order that pizza and pour us some wine."

Draco threw on a pair of grey track pants and a black t-shirt, while Hermione opted for a pair of black yoga pants and a pink spaghetti strap tank top with no bra. "Merlin's beard woman!" Draco said raking his eyes over her appraisingly when she walked out into the living room to meet him.

"What?" Hermione said innocently grinning at him.

"You look…amazing. Maybe we could just skip the pizza? I've already called but I could call back and cancel it." He said winking. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I'm starving, and I have been really looking forward to the glass of wine you promised. It's yoga pants and a tank top Draco, it isn't like I walked out here naked." She went and took her usual seat on the couch, looking over the back of it at him as he poured the wine.

"You may as well be naked for all the coverage that outfit is providing." He winked as he handed her one of the glasses. She sipped her wine and let her eyes follow him as he sat down at the other end of the couch. "Would you like to watch a movie?"

A few hours later they had finished the pizza and were on to their second movie as well as a second bottle of wine. Hermione was curled into Draco on the couch and he was stroking her hair.

"How did I get so lucky?" She asked peering up at him. Draco looked down at her.

"What do you mean love?" He asked smiling.

"I spent twelve years completely miserable thinking that's what love was, staying in a dead end marriage and now I'm here, with you and I'm ecstatically happy. In fact, I don't think I've ever in my life been happy like this. I'm free of Ron, almost free of the flat I shared with him, and I have a wonderful boyfriend that makes me feel like the sexiest woman in the world, and as an added bonus he happens to have a son that I grow more fond of every time we spend time with him." She paused so she could sit herself up and look right into his eyes. "And if someone had told me years ago I would be saying all of this about Draco Malfoy I would have thought they were imperiused." She laughed and so did he. Draco cupped her chin in his hand.

"Hermione, I…" He took a deep breath seemingly trying to bolster his confidence. "I've wanted to say this for a while now, but I didn't want to scare you."

"What is it Draco?" He took her hands in his.

"Hermione Jean Granger, I am in love with you. I think I've felt it since the first time I made love to you, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to frighten you off, especially after everything you've been through. I have never in my life felt about anyone the way I feel about you." He paused, nervousness clearly etched across his face. Hermione squeezed his hands.

"I love you too Draco." She said grinning and climbed into his lap throwing her arms around his neck. Draco wrapped his arms around her and kissed her deeply.

"It's a good thing tomorrow is Saturday and we don't have to pick Scorpius up until after lunch." He said nuzzling her throat.

"And why is that?" Hermione said closing her eyes and tilting her head back to allow him better access.

"Because I plan to show you just how much I love you, over and over again." He smiled into the crook of her neck before he bit down just enough to elicit a moan from her. They made their way to the bedroom and after casting contraception charms, Draco made good on his word. He made love to Hermione all night long until the sun began to rise and they fell asleep, a tangled mess of arms and legs.

The next day Draco left for Malfoy Manor a bit earlier than he needed to so he could talk to Astoria. He felt it was time to tell Scorpius the truth about his relationship with Hermione, but wanted to clear it with her first. He brought along the confirmation of their divorce as well so he didn't have to send them by owl. He had the process sped up since she hadn't contested anything and it had only taken a little over a week to be put through.

"Draco, you're early." Astoria said as she swung the front door open to greet him.

"Yes, sorry about that. I just thought maybe we could talk before I leave with Scorpius? He should be still doing his flying lesson? It's scheduled later today right?"

"Yes, he'll be flying for another half hour at least." She walked inside and Draco followed pulling the door shut behind him. "Would you like a cup of coffee or tea?"

"Coffee please." He answered as he sat down at the bistro table. Astoria magicked them two cups of coffee and sat down with him.

"So, what were you wanting to talk about?" She asked taking a sip. Draco pulled out an envelope.

"First off, I have our divorce papers here, I thought I might as well just bring your copy to you rather than send them by owl." He handed her the envelope and she cast it to the side, waiting for him to continue. "And second, I want to tell Scorpius about Hermione and I tonight. I wanted your blessing first though." Astoria paused quirking an eyebrow and then laughed. Draco looked at her in confusion.

"Well, seeing as he now knows about Pansy and I you might as well." Now it was Draco's turn to quirk an eyebrow. Astoria tried to stop laughing. "It was an accident really, but yes he knows."

"How was it an accident?" Draco asked, curious and Astoria blushed crimson.

"Well….uh….Pansy came over last night after I put Scorpius to bed and she ended up spending the night." She paused her cheeks reddening as Draco quirked his eyebrow and smirked at her. "Anyway, we made sure we were up before Scorpius and were down here making breakfast and Pans kissed me and neither of us heard him come into the kitchen. Next thing I knew I heard him say mummy followed by aunt Pansy and I knew he had seen." Draco was laughing as she finished. "Pansy was mortified but we just sat him down and talked to him about it."

"How did he react when you told him?"

"Well, he just kind of shrugged his shoulders to be honest. Asked me if I loved aunt Pansy and I said yes, and he asked Pansy if she loved me and Pansy said yes and he just sat there and thought for a second before telling us he was okay with it because aunt Pansy is cool." Astoria shrugged. "He's a very well adjusted little boy. I know how he feels about Hermione too, so I don't think you'll have any issues telling him."

"I don't think I will either to be honest. I just wanted to make sure it was okay with you. Speaking of Hermione, I am taking her to the gala next month. I assume you also have tickets? Will you be coming with Pansy?"

"I was thinking about going. It's a bit nerve wracking because I know there will be a lot of media attention there and it'll be the first event where not only are we not going together, but I would be bringing another woman."

"You've gotta do it sometime Astoria. Why not choose now? I wouldn't let anyone say anything nasty to you or Pans and neither would Hermione. It might be a good opportunity for you all to get to know each other since I know we'll be at the same table during the meal."

"You know what Draco, you're right. I'll ask Pansy tonight if she would still like to go. Thank you for being so supportive." She smiled at him and looked outside. "Oh looks like Scorpius is coming."

Scorpius came running inside and upon catching sight of his father immediately ran at him for a hug.

"You excited to come sleep at the flat tonight? It's been a while." Draco asked his son.

"Yes very much. Will Herm-oh-knee be there too?"

"Yes, she will be. She's there now waiting for us, why don't you go get your bag and we'll go see her?"

Ten minutes later, after giving his mother a big kiss and hug, Scorpius was strapped into his booster seat and they were driving back to the flat. Draco figured this would be a good time to tell his son about him and Hermione.

"Scorpius, do you remember when you first met Hermione and you told me if I ever wanted to be with someone you'd want it to be her?" Scorpius nodded emphatically. "Do you still feel that way?" Scorpius nodded again. "So if I told you that daddy loves Hermione very much you would be okay with that?" Scorpius nodded a third time.

"Yes daddy, I love Herm-oh-knee. Does she love you?"

"Yes son, she does, and I'm glad you love her. She loves you too and is very excited for you to spend the night."

"Herm-oh-knee is sleeping over too?" He asked excitedly.

"Well, sort of…" Draco paused thinking how best to word this. "Hermione lives there too, with me." This seemed to appease Scorpius as he didn't ask any more questions for the rest of the ride.

Once they arrived at the flat Scorpius bounded inside and immediately ran up to Hermione and gave her a big hug. "I'm happy that you love my daddy." He said squeezing her.

"Daddy told you that did he?" Hermione asked smiling and Scorpius nodded. "Well Scorpius I'm glad you're happy about that." She paused. "So, what would you like to do today?"

"Can I go play in my room with my toys?" He asked. Hermione looked over at Draco and saw him nod.

"Sure Scorpius, go ahead. We'll just be out here if you need us, or if you want to do something else." She smiled at the little boy as he ran off to his room without another word. Draco came and flopped down on the couch beside Hermione.

"So tomorrow, after we drop Scorpius off at home, would you like to go shopping? I need to get new dress robes anyway for the gala and thought perhaps you might like to pick out something new to wear as well."

"That sounds lovely Draco. I was thinking I may have to go shopping at some point anyway since I don't have anything to wear."

"So about the gala, I found out this morning that Astoria and Pansy will be attending together." He paused. "And as Astoria's last name is still legally Malfoy, they'll be sat at our table. Are you okay with that love?"

"Why wouldn't I be? I assumed that if you were invited, she probably would be as well. It gives me the opportunity to get to know them a bit better as well." Hermione smiled. "Who will watch Scorpius then if all of us are at the gala?"

"Pansy's mum most likely. She's a wonderful woman. Pansy's father wasn't and he ended up dying in the war, but her mother was always a very accepting and sweet woman and she just loves spending time with Scorpius." Draco smiled and rested his hand on Hermione's leg. "Scorpius will be well taken care of the night of the gala, don't you worry."

They spent the rest of the day playing games with Scorpius and watching movies. When it was time for dinner Draco ordered cheeseburgers since it was Scorpius' favourite food. As it got closer to Scorpius' bed time he started to yawn and went into his bag for his polar bear that Hermione had bought him at the zoo.

"I see you still have the polar bear I bought you." Hermione said smiling as he cuddled it. He nodded vigorously.

"It's my favourite. I sleep with it every night."

"Does it have a name?" Scorpius nodded.

"I named him Beedle."

"Like Beedle the Bard? Do you like those stories?" She asked him and he nodded again. "Would you like me to read one of the stories to you before you go to sleep?" Scorpius nodded once again.

"Can you read Babbity Rabbity and the Cackling Stump?" He asked excitedly.

"Of course. Why don't you go with your dad and get your teeth brushed and pyjamas on and I'll wait for you in your room with the book?" Scorpius jumped up off the couch and grabbed his dad's hand.

"Come on daddy, I wanna hear Herm-oh-knee read the story!"

"Okay son, let's go!" Draco said laughing as he was dragged into his son's ensuite bathroom.

Hermione sought out her copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard that Dumbledore had left her many years ago, and conjured a small chair to sit in beside Scorpius's bed. She sat down and waited, and within minutes the boys emerged from the bathroom, and Scorpius was wearing pyjamas with little broomsticks and snitches all over them.

"I like your pyjamas!" Hermione said as he hopped into his bed.

"Thank you Herm-oh-knee." He said with a big smile. Draco tucked him in and kissed him on the forehead before conjuring himself a chair so he could listen to Hermione read. She opened the book to the correct page and began reading. By the time she read the last line of the story, Scorpius was snoring his arm wrapped tightly around Beedle.

"Goodnight Scorpius." Hermione said quietly and leaned over to kiss his forehead as Draco waved away the two conjured chairs. They snuck out of his room, turned out the lights and closed the door.

"I love watching you with him." Draco said as they sat down together on the couch. He pulled her feet into his lap and began to rub them one at a time. Hermione closed her eyes and leaned back enjoying his touch. "You have a very motherly instinct."

"I always did want to have children. It just wasn't in the cards."

"Well, it's not too late you know, you can still have children of your own." Hermione's eyes shot open and she stared openly at him not sure what to say in response. "I just mean, one day if you want children…" He trailed off.

"Are you saying, that perhaps one day, should everything work out with us that you might be open to the idea of having another child?" She asked slowly.

"Yes. That is exactly what I'm saying. I always wanted to have more than one child, I just didn't want to do it in a loveless marriage." Draco continued to rub Hermione's feet and she slowly closed her eyes again, basking in the feeling of his hands.

"Believe me, I understand that." She said. "If one day I should find myself happily married, then I would definitely want to have a child."

"I'll remember that." Draco said smiling.

The next morning Hermione and Draco were awoken by the sound of small footsteps coming down the hallway and into their bedroom.

"Morning Herm-oh-knee! Morning daddy!" He called as he came into the room and climbed into their bed, bouncing up and down.

"Good morning Scorpius." They answered in unison, barely awake.

"Can I have pancakes?" He asked still bouncing.

"You want pancakes for breakfast?" Draco asked yawning and stretching. Scorpius nodded.

"I can make them Draco." Hermione said sitting up in bed and swinging her legs over the side. "Come Scorpius, let's go make pancakes." She said smiling as she stood up and led him to the kitchen, leaving Draco behind. It didn't take him long to catch up, and before long Hermione had finished making a big stack of pancakes and they had begun eating them.

"These are yummy!" Scorpius said after his first bite. "Best pancakes ever, even better than daddy's!" Draco pretended to be offended.

"Are you saying you don't like my pancakes? Well I guess Hermione will just have to make them for you from now on."

"Okay!" Scorpius exclaimed making Hermione and Draco laugh.

After breakfast, they all got washed up and brought Scorpius back to Malfoy Manor.

"Did you have a good night sweetheart?" Astoria asked as she guided him inside the house.

"Yeah mummy it was great! Herm-oh-knee read me Babbity Rabbity." He turned to Draco and gave him a hug. "I go unpack now, bye daddy love you." Draco managed to give him a quick kiss on the head before Scorpius took off running into the house. Astoria and Draco said goodbye to one another and parted ways.

"Ready to go shopping?" Draco asked smiling as he drove away from Malfoy Manor.

"Of course." She returned his smile. "I've been meaning to ask you, what exactly should I wear to this gala? I know men almost always just wear dress robes, but the only black tie events I have been to were for the ministry so it was sort of a split for the women between dresses and fancy robes."

Draco laughed lightly. "This gala is sort of…how can I put this…" He paused thinking. "An excuse for prominent witches and wizards to get together, spend a lot of money on charity, and show off. Witches usually take advantage of that and go all out on dresses, robes hide too much you see." He finished with a wink.

"Great, because I wasn't nervous enough." Hermione said quietly staring at her hands folded in her lap. Draco parked in front of an elegant looking wizard's robe shop and unfolded her hands, taking one of them in his own.

"Love, I assure you whatever you wear, you will be the best looking witch there. Besides, it's our coming out as a couple remember? Who cares what anyone else thinks anyway?" He kissed her hand. "I figured we'd get my dress robes out of the way first if that's all right. I have somewhere else in mind for your dress." He stepped out of the car and went around to open Hermione's door for her.

Draco tried on a few different sets of dress robes, asking Hermione's opinion on each set. As he stepped out of the change room the final time wearing an all black set, he noticed her eyes travelling up and down his body appraisingly, biting her bottom lip- a habit he had noticed she had when she was attracted to something or feeling particularly aroused.

"This the set then?" He said with a wicked grin as Hermione blushed and nodded. Smirking, he turned around and went back into the change room. Moments later he had the shop witch ring them up along with an overcoat and shoes. Hermione tried to hide her shock at the price as Draco paid for his garments before escorting her back out of the store. She had almost forgotten how rich the Malfoy family was, and that with Lucius and Narcissa's death shortly after the war, he had inherited it all. Draco placed his new clothing in the backseat of the car, and to Hermione's surprise closed, and locked it again. "We may as well just walk to the dress shop, it's only about five shops down. If that's okay with you?" He said taking her hand.

"That sounds lovely Draco." She said letting him guide her along.

They arrived a short walk later at the entrance to a beautiful shop with ornate writing on the sign above them. There were three of the most beautiful dresses Hermione had ever seen hanging on mannequins in the window as well as a display of what appeared to be extremely expensive jewellery.

"Draco…this shop looks beautiful but…rather expensive." Hermione may have been far from poor, but she still wasn't extremely rich either and had a more practical view on spending money. "I just don't know that I want to spend a small fortune on a dress." She silently hoped he wasn't thinking she was looking down on him for the amount of money he himself had just spent on his robes. To her surprise he was smirking at her.

"Love, I invited you to this thing, and I invited you on this shopping trip. Did you think I would make you buy your own dress?"

Hermione had been afraid his answer would be something like that. "You don't have to buy my dress. I do have my own money you know." She said quietly, not wanting him to think she didn't appreciate the gesture. "I appreciate the offer, but I'm not with you because you have money, I'm with you because of who you are." To her surprise Draco was laughing.

"I had a feeling you would say something like that Hermione. I know how independent you are and it's something I love about you, but this is something I want to do for you."

"But I-" She tried to argue but Draco placed a chaste kiss on her lips to silence her.

"But nothing. I want you to come in this shop with me, pick something you love, and allow me to buy it for you. No looking at price tags. If it'll make you feel better you can even wait outside while I pay so there's no chance of you knowing what I paid." He said it so firmly that she knew there was no chance of winning this argument.

"Fine, I can see this is important to you and an argument I won't win." Draco feigned a look of shock that made a smile spread across her face. "But I will take you up on your offer of waiting outside at the end."

Draco grinned like the Cheshire cat and pulled open the heavy shop doors. "Excellent. Now, shall we?" He said guiding her inside.

Hermione had never been in a shop quite like it. The place was huge and everywhere she turned were racks of dresses made of the finest fabrics, shoes in every possible style and colour, and in the centre of the store where the shop witch stood, a display case of the finest jewellery she had ever seen, made of rare gemstones of every colour and diamonds. "This place is…" She couldn't seem to find the right word to describe it and let herself trail off.

"I thought you might like it." Draco laughed taking a seat in a spindly chair near the changing rooms. "Go ahead, look around. I'll sit here and wait for you."

Slowly Hermione moved towards a rack and gently looked through the dresses, feeling the fabrics as she went but, as Draco had requested, avoiding the price tags. She moved through the store, looking at dresses of every hue. When she had five or six picked out she headed over to the change rooms where Draco was waiting reading The Daily Prophet. He slowly lowered the paper as she approached.

"I'm just going to pop in and try these on." She said as she glided past him to the nearest change room. Draco inclined his head, and set the paper down beside him, waiting to see what she had picked.

The first one she tried on was a magenta one shoulder dress, where the one sleeve of it was long and flowing. She looked herself over in the mirror before unlatching the door to show Draco. He quirked an eyebrow as she stepped out but shook his head. One down. Hermione turned around and walked back into the change room. Next she tried a red off the shoulder cocktail dress, followed by a green spaghetti strap –which Draco seemed to like so it was set aside as a maybe- then a black long sleeve backless gown, and finally a strapless gown with a sweetheart neckline made of an almost shimmery dark blue silk. When she stepped out in front of Draco, both his eyes and mouth opened wide.

"You look…" He seemed to not be able to find the right word.

"You like it?" She said smiling.

"I love it. Do you?" He asked skimming her body with his eyes.

"I do. I think this is the one."

"I agree. Why don't you go change and meet me up at the front. We'll leave it with the shop witch while you pick out a pair of shoes to match."

Hermione did exactly that, and before long had chosen a pair of strappy stiletto sandals in the same colour as her dress, and was waiting outside the shop for Draco to pay. Hermione was beginning to wonder what was taking so long when he came out carrying a garment bag and a shoe box looking distinctly happy about something.

"Why are you so smiley?" She asked with a smirk as they walked back to the car.

"Oh, uh…nothing. Just excited to see you all dressed up in that dress in a couple more

weeks."

Hermione had the distinct feeling there was more that he wasn't telling her, but before she could question him she noticed a second garment bag in his arms. "What's in the second bag Draco?" She asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"It's a dress cloak. Matches the dress you picked. I thought you might get cold as it is starting to get nippy in the evenings and I wasn't sure if you had something that would match." They had arrived at the car and Draco carefully placed her bags in with his own. "I think you'll like it." He said opening her car door and closing it behind her. They drove back to the flat in comfortable silence, and Hermione couldn't help but think to herself, that it was rather nice to be with someone who wanted to pamper her, and make sure she had everything she needed. The fact that Draco anticipated a need and made sure it was taken care of, she had to admit was quite refreshing. As if sensing what she was thinking about Draco reached out and squeezed her hand. "Hermione, love, you're going to have to get used to the fact that you're with a man that not only has the means to see to it that you're pampered and spoiled like you deserve, but wants to ensure you have everything your heart desires and more. I know that goes against your independent nature," He paused and smirked at her, "but that's who I am." He finished and Hermione smiled.

"Well Draco, I will try and be okay with that on one condition." She paused and he nodded for her to continue on. "You still let me pay for things of my own from time to time, and occasionally allow me to treat you as well. There needs to be some balance." She paused knowing he was going to say no to her next point. "And if I'm to live with you permanently, I want to pay part of the expenses."

"I agree to everything but the expenses. There is no reason for you to have to worry about that. If we are living together our money is somewhat joint so it just seems pointless to me to go dividing up bills between us." Hermione opened her mouth to argue, but Draco continued on. "I will agree however, to you purchasing groceries or other necessities for the flat if you like." Sensing this was Draco's attempt at compromise, she nodded in agreement as they parked. "Good, now that that's sorted let's get all of this upstairs and figure out what to do about dinner. I'm starved." He said grabbing all the parcels from their shopping and leading the way.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Sorry for the wait for this Chapter. I appreciate your patience with me. Anyway, hope everyone enjoys it! (When I first posted this, it erased my line breaks. That is fixed now.)**

The morning of the gala seemed to sneak up on Hermione and Draco. They'd both been busy with work, visits with Scorpius, and Pansy coming around more often for tea, coffee or dinner. Draco had made a point to spend more time with her after his conversation with Astoria, and Pansy seemed quite eager to get to know Hermione. The women had ended up becoming fast friends and had even made plans to get their hair, nails and makeup done together for the gala.

They were awoken by a misty blue and white cat streaking into their bedroom that, as soon as it began speaking, they realized was Pansy Parkinson's patronus.

"Oi, you two. I swore I wouldn't use my emergency key to your apartment anymore, but I'm on the other side of the door to your flat if one of you would be so kind as to come let me in." Upon finishing it's message the cat disappeared.

"Why didn't she just knock?" Hermione asked sliding out of bed and wrapping a robe around herself.

"I presume it was so that if we were in the middle of something and decided to attempt ignoring her, we wouldn't be able to. That or she just decided to announce herself in the most annoying way possible." Draco shrugged as he pulled on a pair of track pants and a t-shirt. "Either is possible with Pansy."

"True." Hermione said with a laugh. "I'm going to go have a quick shower. You'll let her in then?" She said walking towards the ensuite bathroom. Draco nodded and closed the bedroom door behind him so she would have privacy.

"Normal people knock Pans." He said as he beckoned her into the flat.

"Yes well, I wanted to make sure you and Hermione actually got out of bed. Where is she anyway? She didn't forget our plans did she?" Pansy said making her way to the kitchen and setting about making a pot of coffee.

"She's having a quick shower, and no she didn't don't worry. What exactly is the plan today anyway?" Draco lowered his voice so there would be no chance of Hermione accidentally overhearing. "You know I have that surprise I want to give her before the gala, you will be back in time right?"

"Yes Draco don't worry. The plan is to have our hair and nails done at the same time so it'll take less time, followed by makeup. Then I will be apparating to the Manor to meet up with Astoria and get dressed at which point she will be apparating back here to do the same." Now Pansy lowered her own voice. "So help me Draco, if I send her back to you looking perfect and you decide to do a little more than give her a surprise gift and ruin it…"

Draco laughed. "I know Pansy. No sex after the hair and makeup is done. Got it." He poured them each a mug of coffee, and sat beside her at the island just as they heard the shower turn off.

Minutes later Hermione emerged with her damp hair pulled back in a ponytail and wearing a tanktop, jeans, and a zip up Gryffindor sweatshirt. Draco looked her up and down appreciatively. "You're sure you two have to leave? Hermione can't just get ready here?"

"Draco Lucius Malfoy remember what I said earlier! And yes, we do. You can live without her for a few hours." Pansy said slapping his arm before turning to Hermione. "You ready to go?"

Hermione conjured a to-go cup and poured herself some coffee. "I am now yes." She walked over to Draco and kissed him goodbye. What was supposed to just be a quick goodbye kiss was quickly turned into something much more passionate as he pulled her against him and probed her mouth with his tongue.

"Ugh! Guys come on!" Pansy said feigning disgust, but when they broke apart they saw she had an eyebrow raised and a crooked grin. "Good. Now, Hermione can we go?"

Hermione laughed and stepped away from Draco. "Yes, yes let's go. Lead the way." She linked her arm through Pansy's so they could disapparate together.

"See you later love." Draco said and waved his hand to signal them it was okay to leave. As soon as he did, Pansy gripped Hermione's arm tight and disapparated.

They arrived at a little diner just outside of muggle London. "This doesn't look like a salon Pans." Hermione said turning to her.

"Of course it isn't." Pansy replied as if it should have just been obvious. "I thought you might want to eat something before we spend the day being poked, prodded and pampered. We won't really have time to eat once we've started."

Hermione grinned at Pansy. "No wonder you were a prefect at Hogwarts. That's brilliant!" They went inside the restaurant and grabbed a booth at the back corner and within seconds a waitress came over and took their orders. Both of them ordered a huge fry up with eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, home fries, and fried tomatoes, and of course more coffee.

"So, this is the first time we've actually been alone you and I." Pansy said sipping her coffee. "You know that Draco is head over heels for you right?" She added eyeing Hermione over her mug.

"Yes Pansy, I know and I know where you're going with this. You don't have to worry, I won't do anything to hurt Draco. I…." She paused and smiled. "I'm also head over heels in love with him."

Pansy grinned, an eyebrow raised. "I know. I see the way you too look at each other. I just wanted to hear it from you." She paused as the waitress put their plates down. "Scorpius is rather fond of you as well you know."

"Well, that's good as I'm quite smitten with him myself. He's an amazing little boy, and so intelligent! I won't be surprised if he's top of the class in his first year at Hogwarts." She took a bite of her breakfast. "So how are you and Astoria doing? Tonight will be the first time I actually meet her."

"Things are really good. I haven't told Draco yet, but I'm moving into the Manor. I'm sure he won't mind. He's never been attached to it. Hated it is probably more accurate actually."

"But, he grew up there? Why would he hate it?"

"It represented everything he wished to leave behind. The pureblood mania of his parents and subsequently their deaths, everything that happened there during the war," She made a pointed look at Hermione, who knew exactly what she meant "and his forced marriage to Astoria. Just not very many happy memories." She paused. "Aside from the ones with Scorpius of course."

They talked a bit more while they ate, and when they were finished Hermione paid the bill despite protests from Pansy. It wasn't long before they were sitting in the salon relaxing as multiple hair stylists and nail technicians took care of them. Hermione chose to get a pedicure to match her French manicure since she would be wearing strappy shoes, as well as have her hair done in a sleek updo, and her makeup; a dark blue smoky eye to match her dress. Pansy chose an off centre bun with a rather large white flower pinned in her hair. She also chose a French manicure but went slightly more subtle with her makeup, in favour of cat's eye eyeliner, mascara and nothing else. Hours later they were both done and standing in the late afternoon sun outside the high end salon.

"Well, off I go back to Astoria to finish getting dressed. I'll see you at the gala." Pansy said smiling.

"See you later Pans. I had fun today."

"Me too." And they both disapparated at the same time.

Hermione entered the flat and at first, thought Draco might not have been there. "Draco?" She called as she closed the door behind her.

"In here." He answered, his voice coming from their bedroom. She made her way down the hallway and pushed open the door. Draco was already in his dress robes and was putting the finishing touches on his hair. She noticed he was wearing Slytherin Serpent cufflinks made of white gold. "Merlin's beard you look phenomenal." He said as he made his way over to her. He kissed her on the forehead. "I'll let you get dressed. Come out to the living room when you're done okay?" She nodded and he left the room closing the bedroom door behind him. Hermione thought that seemed a little bit odd, but shrugged and opened the wardrobe where she'd been keeping her dress. She used magic to do up the back, rather than trying to twist and turn to do up the many clasps, followed by slipping her feet into her shoes. She admired herself in the mirror and couldn't believe how good she looked. The salon really had worked wonders and she had to admit that the dress hugged every curve in just the right way. Just before she left the room, she applied a small spritz of her favourite perfume and made her way back out to the living room.

Draco had prepared two glasses of wine, and Hermione noticed, had put on some soft jazz in the background. He was sitting on the couch watching her as she came towards him, a smile on his face. "I knew that dress was a good choice." He said winking as she came to sit beside him and he passed her a wine glass. "You really do look fantastic."

"You look quite amazing yourself." She said winking back at him. "So what's with the music and the wine?" She inquired. "Shouldn't we be leaving shortly?"

Draco smiled and moved something in his hand. "I wanted to give you something first, and I thought it would be nice to have a little wine and music before we left."

"Give me something." She looked at him confused. "Draco you've done more than enough." He placed a velvet jewellery box in her hands. "You really didn't have to-" She said looking at him.

"I know I didn't have to, but I saw it and wanted you to have it. Go on, open it." Her fingers shook slightly as she opened the box. When she looked inside she gasped and almost dropped it. It was a beautiful necklace made of deep blue sapphires surrounded by diamonds and a pair of matching drop earrings. It had to have been worth a fortune. Draco leaned forward and took the necklace from the box, gesturing for her to turn so he could put it on for her. "I saw this and I thought it would look perfect with your dress." His fingers brushed her neck and Hermione shivered. Draco did up the clasp and placed his lips to her neck making her shiver even more as she put the earrings in her ears. She turned around so she was facing Draco once more and she could see the hunger in his eyes as he looked at her.

"I love it Draco, thank you." She said as she touched it gently. "It's beautiful."

"Not nearly as beautiful as the one wearing it." He leaned forward and tipped her chin up to look at him. "I love you Hermione Jean Granger." He kissed her, his tongue teasing hers before she broke the kiss and pushed him gently away.

"I love you too Draco, but we really should get going and if you keep that up, I won't want to leave at all."

Draco went and collected their cloaks from the closet. Hermione, not having seen hers before he pulled it out, gasped at how beautiful it was. It had a hood, and silver buttons and was ankle length. It reminded her a little of a blue red riding hood and she absolutely loved it. Moments later they had apparated to the venue where the gala was being held. It was a beautiful old train station that had been converted to a hall. Draco guided her, arm in arm, down a red carpet towards the entrance. Flash bulbs went off in every direction and there were multiple shouts directed at Draco as to who the woman on his arm was. Just before the entrance, Draco stopped and turned them towards the media so they could get a good picture.

"For all who are wondering!" He said loudly and all of the reporters went quiet watching and recording. "The woman on my arm is Hermione Granger, assistant to the Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt, and" -he paused for effect-"the love of my life!" And he kissed her. A deep passionate kiss that made her cheeks burn. There were several more flashes of cameras before they broke apart and Draco steered them inside. Suddenly they heard another uproar from the crowd. "Oh, Astoria and Pansy must be here." He laughed. Hermione turned to look out the doorway and saw Pansy in her long white gown arm in arm with Astoria in Slytherin green. Their kiss was a little more innocent than hers and Draco's had been, but it caused an uproar all the same.

* * *

"Follow me!" Draco whispered as he tugged Hermione by the hand. She stumbled a little, having had far too much elf-made wine, but allowed him to pull her along after him grinning as they searched for somewhere more private. She had just been teasing Draco under the table at the gala, emboldened by drink, and-given that he too had had just as much wine-next thing she knew they were sneaking through hallways at the venue hall while everyone else was dancing the night away.

"Draco where are we-"

He placed his finger in front of his lips in a "shh" gesture and pulled her towards a doorway.

"Alohomora." He whispered and the door creaked open, revealing a small lounge complete with bar and pool tables. It wasn't quite as elegant as the rest of the place and Hermione guessed it was probably used for much smaller private parties.

"Draco! We shouldn't be in here." She said with a most un-Hermione like giggle. Grinning like the Cheshire cat, he locked the door and warded the room to prevent anyone stumbling upon them accidentally.

"No one will find us here now my love." He said sauntering towards her. "I've made sure of it." He pulled her into his arms after placing a chaste kiss on the top of her hand. "Would you care to dance?" Draco asked flicking his wand and starting the record player behind the bar. Sultry jazz swept through the room and Hermione nodded wordlessly allowing him to lead, her hips swaying along with his as they danced. They didn't speak, just moved together in the dimly lit room and it didn't take long before Draco's lips were on hers claiming her mouth with his tongue.

Hermione allowed herself to be guided towards the pool table, lost in the taste of him-Firewhiskey, elf-made wine, and something distinctly Draco-until she felt her backside bump against the edge.

"Are you sure your wards will prevent someone stumbling upon us Draco?" She asked, her eyes dark with desire. He nodded, kneeling in front of her and slipping his hands under the hemline of her gown to caress her shapely calves. Breath hitching, Hermione leaned back against the pool table. Feeling the felt under her fingertips, she allowed her eyes to close at the sensation of Draco's fingers, lips, and teeth on her legs. "Merlin, Draco…" She mewled as his hands found their way up her thighs, hiking her dress as they went.

"My, what a naughty witch you are!" He smirked, as upon finally gathering her dress about her hips, he discovered her complete lack of underwear. "Had I known you weren't wearing any knickers I would have snuck you in here sooner." Draco helped her hop up onto the table so she was supported by it before kneeling before her once more.

"I-I wanted to s-surprise you." She panted as she felt his breath against the milky white skin of her inner thighs, his hands gently opening her legs wider. He trailed his tongue along her flesh, nipping occasionally, as his fingers toyed with the small patch of curls at the apex of her thighs. Looking up at Hermione, he swiped a finger down between her lips and over the opening feeling the slickness there, watching as she arched her back and laid across the felt of the table.

Slowly, Draco slipped a finger past her opening seeking the spongy spot inside and began curling his fingers. His witch gasped and panted harder, soft moans escaping her lips, a flush creeping across her cheeks and down to her chest. He smiled to himself as she began to writhe and flattened his tongue using it to part her folds.

Hermione groaned in pleasure as she felt Draco's tongue slowly begin lapping at her clit, his fingers still stroking inside her. Perched on the edge of the pool table, she sat up just enough to fist his hair in her hands holding him to her as she moaned and bucked her hips in time with his movements.

"Merlin, Draco that feels…" She trailed off as he wrapped his lips around the tiny nub and started sucking. Legs shaking, and feeling precariously close to falling off the table, Hermione laid back down as Draco continued his ministrations between her legs.

Her juices were soaking his hand as he pumped in and out of her, her moans and pleas getting louder with every stroke of his tongue or suckle of his lips and Draco was revelling in the sight, smell and taste of her falling apart at his touch. He wanted to bring her over the edge, right there in their secret room with hundreds of partygoers just down the hall from them. He could feel her inner walls beginning to clench and tighten around his fingers and knew it wouldn't be long now.

"Let go, love. Come for me." He commanded, as he thrust a third finger inside her. Her back arched, her hands clenched, and he could feel her shuddering and clenching so tightly he could barely move his fingers.

"Oh..oh..Merlin! Draco! Oh…Draco!" She gasped and shouted as her orgasm claimed her. He continued his movements inside her, but stood and leaned over her claiming her lips in a searing kiss. He wrapped his other arm underneath her, helping her into a semi sitting position and held her as she shook with pleasure. When the tremors subsided, he removed his fingers and heard a barely audible sigh of loss fall from her lips.

"I'm hardly finished love, don't worry." Draco said recapturing her lips as he undid his pants and removed his throbbing cock. Had he possessed less self control, he would have come at the sight of her before him. She was chewing her lower lip, her hair mussed, and her beautiful peach toned skin flushed and coated in a sheen of sweat. Meeting her gaze he lined himself up with her opening and claimed her lips as he entered.

Hermione gasped at the sudden fullness that was Draco's cock inside her. He stayed still, allowing her to become accustomed to it before slowly beginning to piston in and out of her. Once again, she felt the material of the pool table under her back as she laid down with her back bowed. She could feel him hitting the most sensitive spots inside her from this angle and could feel his every vein and ridge, and soon she was bucking and panting as he moved within her.

Draco marvelled-as he always did-at the tightness of her cavern and how her walls gripped him as he thrust. He knew he wouldn't last long with the way Hermione was mewling and chanting his name in between praising Merlin and silently said his own thanks in the name of Slytherin that it didn't take long for her to fall apart a second time, keening and crying out his name with a fresh wave of shaking and shuddering. Her inner walls clenched tightly with her orgasm and milked his throbbing cock.

"Hermione!" Draco cried out as he felt his balls tighten and the first twitches before he came inside her.

Hermione and Draco dressed quickly-the former making sure her hair and makeup was at least slightly more presentable-before heading back to their table intent on saying a quick goodbye to Pansy and Astoria before apparating home.

"They aren't here." Draco said with a frown as he perused the dance floor, then a crooked grin graced his face.

"What's that look about?" Hermione asked, swaying a little in her still intoxicated state. He wrapped his arm around her for support.

"Maybe they had the same idea we did."

Blushing crimson, Hermione giggled and leaned into Draco for support. The wine really seemed to have gone straight to her head…and her balance.

"Come, let's go home." He said as he steered her towards the outer garden that was set up as an apparition point summoning their cloaks as they walked. Wrapping his arms around her, he turned into nothingness arriving on the threshold of their flat.

It became clear to both Hermione and Draco almost instantly, that elf-made wine and apparition did not mix. As soon as they landed and he had unlocked the door, she had gone running for their bedroom and, he presumed, the toilet.

"Hermione? Love? Are you alright?" He questioned from the other side of the door feeling suddenly quite sober.

"Nnnghh." It was more a groan than a word.

"I didn't quite catch-" He was drowned out by the sound of her throwing up. He tried the door, but of course she had locked it. "Alohomora." He still couldn't get in. She had warded the door against him! "Come on Hermione let me in!" Draco wanted to make sure she was alright and get her to take some of the sober potion he had brought in with him.

"No." She sobbed. "I don't want you to see me like this!"

Draco couldn't help smiling at the sound of her whining. "Love, I don't care what you look like

right now, I just want to take care of you!" He felt her let the wards down, and he tried the door again. She was curled up beside the toilet, her arms on the edge with her forehead resting on them. "I am never drinking that much again." She moaned. "I'm sorry Draco, I must look a fright and-" She sniffed and began to cry "I've ruined the rest of our special evening."

He crouched down and he helped her into an upright sitting position in front of him. He handed her the sober up potion, and wiped her tears with his thumb. "You did not ruin anything love! It's the apparition. I'd be willing to bet this flat on it." He paused as she swallowed the potion. "The first time I apparated after a night of drinking, I ended up a quarter mile from where I intended to go, threw up in some old lady's garden then passed out. I woke up to her shrieking and turning the hose on me." He smiled and kissed her forehead. "Can't get much worse or embarrassing than that." He added and she laughed lightly. "Do you feel a bit better after the potion?"

"I do. What was it?"

"A sober up potion. I made sure to procure some before tonight just in case." He reached out a hand and helped her gingerly get to her feet.

"That was quite brilliant of you Draco." She smiled. "I think I'll just brush my teeth and sleep this off now if you don't mind."

"That sounds like a great idea love." He said before walking out and closing the bathroom door behind him.

* * *

"Hermione? Are you okay?" Draco's voice drifted through the bathroom door.

"I'm fine. Can you let Kingsley know I won't be in today?"

"Love you've been throwing up every morning for almost a week, maybe I should take you to St. Mungo's?" He asked slowly opening the door. She was slumped against the toilet in her Hello Kitty pyjamas-she only wore these when sick and forbade Draco to laugh at her -just as she had been the last four consecutive days.

"You have that meeting today with the other Ministers. You can't miss that. I'll be fine, I'll go to St. Mungo's myself and be here when you get home. I'm positive I'm just stressed about Ron having been released from Azkaban last week, they'll probably prescribe a calming draught and send me home."

"I don't like the idea of you being this sick and leaving you Hermione, and yes now that you mention it, I don't like the idea of you going out alone with him out there. We don't have an auror on duty today since I was supposed to escort you." Draco sounded worried and his voice held not so thinly veiled contempt when talking about Ronald Weasley.

"He hasn't contacted me since that letter Draco. It's been how long? And he's been out over a week now and I haven't seen or heard from him. Maybe he's gone back to The Burrow and is just-"

"Waiting for his chance to finish what he started?" Draco cut across her. "I don't like it Hermione, but you're a grown woman. You're right I can't miss this meeting, but I am distinctly unhappy with the idea of you leaving the flat and the safety of my extra wards, especially with no escort. Can't I just call in a healer for you by floo?"

"I don't require all the fuss my love. I will be fine, do you forget I survived a war? Ronald is infinitely less frightening than Voldemort, now please Draco, go to work."

Draco furrowed his brow, displeasure clear in his features and stiff shoulders. "I can realize when I have lost an argument. Go to St. Mungo's and then please come directly back here. I will see you when I get home tonight." He sighed and when he spoke again his voice had lost some of its edge. "Perhaps if you're feeling better later we can order takeaway." He leaned in and kissed her sweaty forehead, noting that it was at least good that she didn't have a fever. "I love you."

"I love you too."

After Draco left for work, Hermione slowly pulled herself off of the floor and-using a cleansing charm since she was too dizzy to stand in the shower-freshened up and got dressed. Within the hour she had arrived at St. Mungo's and had been checked into a room awaiting a healer. It didn't take long before a kind looking older witch wearing hospital robes entered and approached the bed she was sitting on.

"What brings you in today Miss. Granger?" She asked kindly, preparing her note pad.

"Well, I've been throwing up for the last four days and I'm not too sure why. I think it's just stress, but figured I may as well come in and find out."

"I agree that it was a good idea to come in. I can perform a quick diagnostic spell and if there's anything wrong it will tell me." She smiled and went to work running her wand up and down over Hermione and chanting. Within a few minutes the healer had finished he work, and Hermione was surprised to see a faint purple glow emanating from her stomach, and when she looked at the healer, she was smiling.

"Wh-what does that mean?" Hermione asked nervously pointing at her glowing abdomen.

"Well my dear girl, I do hope this comes as happy news for you but-" She paused as if for effect and Hermione fought the urge to yell at her to spit it out- "You're pregnant."

"I'm WHAT?!" Hermione shrieked jumping up from the hospital bed. "No, no way. You have to have read the results wrong. I can't be…I use the charms…to prevent…I can't be!" She was stammering in disbelief.

The healer calmly rested a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "I'm afraid I have been doing this a long time, and you Ms. Granger, are in fact with child. Did you perhaps forget to cast the contraception charm sometime in the past month or so?"

Hermione thought back, searching her memory and suddenly all colour drained out of her face. "The gala. I don't remember casting it before we-" She stopped and clasped a hand to her mouth. They hadn't cast it. They were both too drunk to remember. "Merlin's crooked teeth I'm pregnant!" She exclaimed. The older witch just smiled wanly and patted her shoulder before she took her leave of the room. _In the name of Godric Gryffindor, how am I going to tell Draco? _She thought to herself. _He's already so worried. I'll send him a patronus letting him know I'm okay and heading back to the flat, and I guess I'll tell him tonight over takeaway and we'll see how he reacts. _She subconsciously rested a hand on her stomach before casting the charm to send her message.

Hermione decided to walk back to the flat from St. Mungo's rather than apparate as it was generally advised that apparition wasn't safe while pregnant. She could have asked to borrow a floo at the hospital, but it was only a half hour walk and she needed to clear her head. She was so deep in her own thoughts that she didn't hear the footsteps behind her quickening their pace, didn't feel a presence getting close to her, didn't realize at all-until a silent petrificus totalus hit her between the shoulders-that Ronald Weasley had been following her, waiting for the opportunity to strike.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Once again, thank you all so so much for the reviews! I would love to be able to reply to them, however I still don't have reliable internet access so it's all I can do to be able to get the updates out to you guys. By the end of the month I will be able to though! :) **

**Also, I feel I should place a trigger warning here as some things in this chapter may be difficult for some to read. **

**Enjoy!**

Hermione was panicking. She couldn't move, or scream or even get to her wand and standing over her was her ex-husband. He made quick work of dragging her into the nearest Alley so no one would see them and cast wards to make sure they weren't disturbed.

"Hello Hermione." He spoke and it sent chills straight down her spine. "I really didn't think this would be so easy. I've been watching you see, and was beginning to think you never went anywhere alone." Ron was standing over her with a sneer on his face. Hermione could feel the fear boiling in the pit of her stomach, and tears streaking down her cheeks. "Every time I tried to get close to your flat, the Ferret's wards held me out. Who would have thought he would be so good at protective spells?" He laughed but there was no life, no joy in the sound. "Then, I tried to see if I could get you on your way to work, but you always either had _him_-" the word came out dripping with venom- "Or you were escorted by Aurors. It would have been rather impractical to attempt to attack you when you had an armed guard." He was pacing around her circling her, a predatory gleam in his eyes. "Then for the last few days I didn't see you at all. I thought maybe you flooed in, until today. Today I watched the Ferret leave and noticed he seemed…off." He paused. "He forgot to place the final ward, the one that prevents me from using magical means of tracing you. I still have Dumbledore's deluminator you know, and it still works despite our bonds being broken. It appears he set it up to be able to trace your actual magical signature, even if you no longer wanted me."

She stared into his gaunt face, his hollow cheeks, his dead looking eyes. The Ron that she had known at Hogwarts was gone and only a monster remained. _Leave me here. I don't care what you do to me or say but leave me here so Draco can find me and help me. _She prayed. _Just don't kill me or my child. _

"Too bad Dumbledore left it to me and not your darling _Draco."_ He pulled his foot back and kicked her in the head. Pain exploded through Hermione and the edges of her vision became fuzzy. She was sure he had cracked her skull with the agony of it and she fought not to pass out. "I wonder if they'll ever find you once I'm through with you. Maybe they won't even bother to look for a mudblood whore." Hearing Ron call her a mudblood shocked her to her very core. Then again, everything he had become shocked her. If someone had told her at Hogwarts that Ron would be worse than a Death Eater and Draco would become the love of her life she would have thought their brain addled and referred them to the Spell Damage floor of St. Mungo's. "Time to go bitch!" He yelled grabbing her and apparating away.

* * *

"Love? I'm home and I'm sorry for earlier. I got your patronus and I'm so glad there was nothing wrong." Draco looked around the living room, and there was no sign of Hermione. "Hermione?" He called loudly as he went to see if perhaps she was lying down in their bedroom. When she still didn't answer a panic started to rise in him. He threw open every door, even Scorpius' room knowing full well she wouldn't have been in there. He cast a patronus to Kingsley requesting he apparate to the flat immediately and grabbed a hold of the floo powder on the mantel. Throwing a handful into the fire, he stuck his head inside and yelled for St. Mungo's.

"Sir! Why are you screaming what is going on?" An alarmed looking welcome witch answered Draco's floo call.

"I need to know if a patient is still there. It's an emergency. " As he spoke he felt Kingsley pass through his wards behind him.

"Who are you looking for?"

"Hermione Granger. She came in this morning. She told me she was leaving but I thought perhaps she fell ill again and never left, or she came back in."

"We aren't supposed to give out information on patients sir. Perhaps if you came in-"

"I can't come in! This is an emergency you daft-" He stopped talking as Kingsley's head appeared beside his in the flame.

"Minister!" The witch squeaked and nearly toppled over.

"Whatever he wants to know, tell him. On my authority as the Minister for Magic, I give you permission to answer his questions."

The welcome witch checked her logs quickly and returned to the floo. "Hermione Jean Granger came in at 9:30am and was discharged at 10:45am. She left and has not been readmitted and is not signed in at the waiting room either." Both Draco and Kingsley yanked their heads out of the fireplace with a small pop.

"What is going on Draco?" Kingsley asked turning to face him. All the colour had drained from his already too pale face.

"Hermione. She isn't here. She sent me her patronus saying she was alright, was leaving the hospital and would see me at home after work. I came home and she isn't here and clearly, as you heard she did in fact leave. It's been over five hours! She should be home!"

"Is it possible she went somewhere else?"

"She was too ill to go into work today, I can't see her deciding to just go somewhere. It's unlike her and you know it. She wouldn't tell me she was coming home if she wasn't."

"What about friends? We should at least contact-"

"Her only friends were Potter, Weasley and his sister. They haven't been amicable in years. But-" He paused. "She does have Pansy now!" Draco clutched at this very unlikely possibility and dove back into the floo to call Astoria and Pansy at the manor. As his head appeared in the flames, the two women jumped and then ran to him. For Draco to appear like this, they knew something had to be wrong. "Is Hermione with you?" He practically shouted.

"No why?" Pansy asked concern etched into her features.

"Sh-she's missing Pans." He said quietly, panic evident in his voice. Pansy looked at Astoria and had what appeared to be a very short silent conversation.

"Get out of the way, I'm coming through."

* * *

When Hermione regained consciousness-she had passed out when they apparated-she was momentarily excited to realize the body bind had been removed, only to realize her hands were bound above her and shackled to a low hanging ceiling. She tried to struggle against her bonds but there was no way she could get free. She looked around, trying to see if there was anything that could help her get out of this situation, but there was nothing. To her shock and horror, she realized she recognized where she was. The old peeling wallpaper, the Black family tree-she was in number twelve Grimmauld Place! But, if she was there then that meant-

"Kreacher!" She said aloud, waiting to hear the tell-tale crack of an apparating house elf.

"He won't come to you." Ron's voice carried to her from the shadows of a corner. She hadn't noticed he was there.

"He-he grew to listen to a-all of us." She answered back trying to sound more strong than she felt. Her head was still threatening to split in two.

"That may be true. But a dead house elf can't help you can he." The redhead slowly moved out of the shadows. She could see her wand in his pocket and he was holding his own tightly. "You see, I couldn't risk that he would run and tell Harry you were here. Even though Harry long since abandoned this place, hasn't been here since the war, Kreacher was still his elf. I killed him to make sure he didn't spoil my plan."

"What p-p-plan?" She stammered watching him idly twirl his wand between his fingers. Ron approached her, an eerie smirk on his face. He reached out and stroked her cheek and she couldn't help it, she flinched away from him. His smirk turned into an ugly grimace.

"You recoil in disgust from my touch?!" He screamed. "I was your husband! You were bonded to me! You let that filth Malfoy touch you and take his pleasures from you while you were still MARRIED TO ME didn't you?!" He was inches from her face. Hermione didn't answer, she was shaking with fear and the pain in her skull from where he had kicked her. Pain lanced through her again as his knuckles connected with her cheek in a vicious backhand. "I asked you a question you disgusting mudblood whore!" He roughly grabbed her chin forcing her to look at him. "Did you, or did you not let him fuck you while you were still married BY LAW to me?" She nodded knowing he wouldn't take any other answer anyway and would probably just beat her worse if she lied. "I knew it!" Ron yelled beginning to pace. "I fucking knew it! You would rather be his whore than my wife! And then you go and get me thrown in fucking Azkaban! Why? So you could sell the flat? All of our things? Take our money and go play house with HIM?!" His rage was rising, she could feel it and-not that she hadn't already-fully appreciated the desperate situation she was in. Hermione could only hope and pray that he had somehow left a trail. That Draco would somehow be able to find her.

* * *

Pansy, Draco and Kingsley had decided to retrace Hermione's steps from St. Mungo's as it was now painfully clear she hadn't used a floo or apparition. The only logical conclusion was that she must have decided to walk home.

"I can't believe…knowing he was out…why didn't she ask me to escort her?" Then he stopped abruptly. "Oh in the name of Salazar Slytherin, Merlin forgive me."

"What?" Pansy and Kingsley asked at the same time.

"I-we were arguing a bit before I left, about her safety and how I didn't want her outside of the wards or unattended and when I left…" His voice broke and he crouched against a building with his head in his hands. "I forgot the last fucking ward! The one that makes her signature untraceable by magic! That's how he's found her!"

"We don't know yet that Ronald Weasley has found her." Kingsley offered trying to calm him.

"I do know. I bet you he used Dumbledore's deluminator! She told me all about it once. How he had abandoned them during the search for horcruxes and how he had used it to find her. Guaranteed Albus tied her signature to it somehow before he gave it to him!"

"That actually gives me an idea." Pansy said quietly. "Draco, that ward you put up, it relies on knowing the magical signature of the one it protects. You're therefore already in tune with hers. Cast the point me charm and focus on her, picture her clearly and it will guide us to the last place it can register within a mile or so." Draco jumped up and hugged Pansy with such force he took her right off her feet and did as she said. His wand spun and pointed in the direction they had been heading and they continued with it guiding their way.

They carefully followed the point me spell to the alley where Ron had dragged Hermione. As soon as they stepped inside Draco felt the magic of the charm fade from his wand.

"She was here." He said feeling it in his gut to be true. "But it would appear, he apparated with her." He looked over and Kingsley was crouching looking at a spot on the ground. "What is it Kingsley?"

"It's-" His face showed the deep etches of worry and Draco suddenly knew what he was going to say. "Draco, it's blood. It's dry and there isn't a lot of it, but I have a very strong feeling it may be hers."

Draco didn't know whether to scream, cry, or both. He hadn't protected her and now she was missing, with an ex-husband on the loose who probably wanted her dead, and there was what appeared to be her blood in an alley. _If anything happens to her, I'll die too. _He thought to himself. The other two let him have his moment of anguish and didn't try to comfort or console him. Knowing Draco as they did, he wouldn't have allowed it anyway.

* * *

Ron had smacked Hermione around in his rage and she could feel her face swelling. He had concentrated his blows to just that area and she was silently thankful he left her torso alone. She had no idea how long she had been here like this, but she was cold and hungry and more scared now than she had been when Bellatrix Lestrange had tortured her during the war. Then, she knew Harry and Ron were near her, trying to find a way to save her. Now, she had no idea if Draco would know where to look, or if he would be able to get in since she had never told him about it, and she wasn't sure if the Fidelius Charm still held. Kingsley knew about it, but would he think to look here? Even if he did, how much time would that take? Would she still be alive?

Ron had left the room and she took the time to try and relax. She needed to calm her heart rate as much as possible for the baby. Taking advantage of his absence she also attempted to project her thoughts to Draco. She tried everything from a wandless patronus, to just focusing on him and chanting the address over and over. She focused all her energy on projecting her thoughts until she heard footsteps on the stairs and knew it was Ron coming back. She steeled herself and tried to swallow her fear. She needed to get out of this alive.

"Here. Eat this." Ronald shoved what she realized immediately was moldy bread, into her mouth. She choked and gagged but eventually chewed and swallowed. He fed her a few pieces and cast an aguamenti into her mouth so she would have water to wash it down. _So clearly he doesn't want to starve me or let me die of thirst. I guess that isn't part of his plan. _She thought.

"Ronald?" She said quietly. He was calm after he'd fed her and she figured she try and appeal to him, hoping maybe some small part of the old Ron Weasley still lived.

"What?"

"Please. I'm sorry I hurt you. I never wanted you to go to Azkaban." She picked her next words carefully. "I did love you before. I wanted us to work, our marriage and I'm sorry it didn't. Please let me go. I-I won't even press charges."

"Enough!" He yelled getting up from the floor. "You think I believe you? You think I've ever believed anything you've ever said? You just want me to let you go so you can run to your Death Eater boyfriend and throw me back in Azkaban. You think he would let me walk away after this? Not bloody likely."

"I-I could convince him. Ronald this isn't you!" She pleaded, trying to get through to him, but it became apparent it wouldn't work. He grabbed her by the throat and squeezed just hard enough to make it difficult for her to breathe, but not to cut off her airway completely.

"This is me. This is what you made me." His voice was eerily calm and if anything that scared Hermione more than his yelling. "I told you I have a plan. I am going to see it through. Would you care to know _Miss Granger_-" He said her name as though it made bile rise in his throat- "Exactly what it is I intend to do with you? Or do you want to be surprised?"

* * *

They had tried all of the obvious places first. The Burrow, The Potters, their old flat, they even contacted the hotel where they had honeymooned. The trace had gone cold and Draco had begun to lose hope.

"It's only been a day Draco, we WILL find her." Pansy said placing a hand on his arm. Kingsley had gone to alert the entire Auror office so they could use every tool available to them to find Hermione and now Draco and Pansy were alone on the couch in his and Hermione's flat.

"If he wants to hurt her, he can do that in a day Pans. What if-" He choked on a sob- "What if he kills her? I can't live without her Pansy I just can't." He broke down finally. He had been trying to remain stoic all day despite tears swimming in his eyes. She expected this.

"I have a feeling that he won't just up and kill her, even if that is his intention. I feel like there is still some time. Don't give up hope Draco." She said rubbing his back.

"I-I have no i-idea where he w-would take her! Somewhere that meant s-something to them? Or just s-somewhere he wouldn't be found?"

Draco's floo turned emerald and a head appeared in it. Probably the last person he wanted to see in his floo had appeared. Harry Potter.

"What the fuck are you doing in my floo?" Draco yelled leaping forward off the couch with his wand raised. Startled, Pansy jumped after him trying to extract his wand from him.

"Draco! Don't do something you will regret!" She shrieked.

"It's okay Miss Parkinson. I would thoroughly deserve anything Malfoy throws at me." Draco stopped trying to come up with ways to curse Potter through the fireplace and stared at him stunned. He was almost sure Harry would have tried to make some excuse about how it was their fault that Ron came unhinged for getting him put in Azkaban. "Can I come in please?"

Draco stepped aside and waved for Harry to step into the flat. "What is it that you want Potter?"

Harry shuffled his feet and stared at them, much like a child who was caught with a hand in the cookie jar. "First of all, I want to apologize. I know it won't be enough but you have to hear me out." Draco waved his hand again to get him to continue. "I should never have said anything to Ron while he was in Azkaban. I didn't truly believe he was capable of hurting her, didn't want to believe it more like." He took a deep breath. "I married Ginny because Hermione didn't want me, she loved Ron-"

"Why exactly are you telling me this?" Draco cut across him with gritted teeth.

"I-I don't know. Maybe it all is relevant, I just…she means something to me too even if I don't deserve her to." He sighed. "You make her happy, I saw that the few times I caught glimpses of you two at the Ministry. She deserves that. She never deserved what I did to her."

"What? Coming on to her and then lying to her husband so he would think she was trying to seduce you?" He sneered at Harry's stunned reaction. "Yeah, I know about that. I also know that when he decided to start kicking the shit out of her, that was a big reason why. Did you know that Potter? Did you know she was coming to work with black eyes and broken ribs and trying to conceal them with charms? You didn't seem to care for your precious Hermione then. You ruined her life and then left her to deal with the backlash and a drunken violent husband. You make me sick. If all you came here for was to discuss your unrequited love for her, while she is currently fucking missing, I don't want to hear it!"

"I deserve that. Maybe that's why I said anything. So you can tell me what a piece of shit I am!" Harry's face was anguished. "It is my fault that Ron became this person and if anything happens to her…" He trailed off. "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it all up. I want to help in some way! What can I do?"

"Can you think of anywhere the bastard might have taken her?"

Harry bowed his head. "I'm not sure. I'll think of places. Perhaps The Forest of Dean? It's where we were camped when he came back to her. It might mean something to him."

* * *

"What is your plan Ronald?" Hermione asked him. Maybe if she kept him talking she could stave off a beating.

"You really want to know?" He smirked. "Fine. I plan to take back everything you gave him willingly while you belonged to me. I plan to make you pay for ever thinking you could leave me. Then, when I've finished with you, I'll dispose of you, like you thought you could do to me. Sound like a good plan?" He laughed maniacally. The fear that had been bubbling in her stomach for hours intensified as she registered his meaning.

"You…Ronald surely you couldn't possibly be saying you would-"

"Rape you? Use you like the mudblood whore you are? Why wouldn't I? Or do you only get wet for men that aren't your husband?" He was barely an inch from her face as he cut her off. He trailed his hands down her sides and it was then she realized why she was so cold. She had been so focused on the pain that she hadn't even realized all she had on was her bra and underwear.

"Ronald, please….don't." It was a whispered plea and it lacked the strength she wished she had.

"Don't what? Take back what is rightfully mine?" And he plunged his fingers inside of her causing her to bite her lip in pain and sob. "You belong to me. Not Harry and definitely not a fucking Death Eater." She cried unabashedly as he roughly took her with his fingers. "See this is the problem, you're nothing but a frigid bitch! Not even a hint of wetness for me." He tore himself out of her and blackened her eye with his fist knocking her unconscious.

Hermione didn't know how many days it had been. Only that every day seemed to be the same. Ron beating her, berating her for being a mudblood whore, and worst of all taking his pleasure with her. No part of her was safe from him, and after the first few times she stopped begging or pleading with him to stop. She was growing too weak and exhausted to fight much longer. She had given up her attempts at wandless incantations whenever Ron left her alone and was beginning to fear that she would never be rescued. The only reason she allowed herself not to beg him to kill her, was the baby she prayed still grew inside her. _Please don't let Ron have taken that from me too._

* * *

The next few days had Harry, Pansy and Draco retracing The Golden Trio's steps as they had hunted horcruxes all those years before. Draco looked awful. He had barely been sleeping despite Pansy slipping him calming draughts and he resolutely refused to eat more than a couple of bites of toast or a sandwich. He just wanted to keep looking for Hermione and didn't care about his own health. The Auror office was checking various potential leads and trying to trace both Hermione and Ron's signatures hoping one of them would use magic and lead them to them.

"He isn't that intelligent!" Snapped Draco on the eve of the fourth day that Hermione had been missing. "How can he be hiding somewhere and not leaving the slightest damn trace?!"

"He must not be using magic. He used it to get her there and now he's stopped. It's the only thing I can think of. That or they're somewhere outside the boundaries of where we can trace." Harry looked truly distraught as he said the last part. If they weren't in Britain, it would be incredibly difficult to ever track them and it could be too late by then if it wasn't already. Suddenly the flames of Draco's fireplace turned emerald and a head appeared in it.

"This is a message for Mr. Potter." Harry ran over to the floo, recognizing the head in question as a fellow Auror.

"Is there news? A new lead?" He asked hopefully.

"I don't know if it could possibly be related but a house elf has turned up dead. Apparently he is your elf. Went by the name of Kreacher." Harry thanked his colleague and spun around.

"I think I know where she is! I can't believe he would dare…but we have to try!"

"Care to enlighten the rest of us Potter?" Pansy said coldly.

"My house." He said quietly.

"We checked your house Potter and don't you think Ginevra would notice?" Draco was clearly implying that Harry was an idiot who was just wasting his time.

"No. Not the house with Ginny. My other house. Number Twelve Grimmauld Place."

As soon as Harry uttered the address, Draco knew that's where his witch was. It was like a floodgate opened and all her attempts at reaching him washed over him in a wave of emotion.

"She's there." He said with conviction leaping up from the couch. "She's been trying to get in touch with me through wandless magic! Was there a Fidelius Charm on that house Potter?"

"Yes. It was the Headquarters for the Order at one time. We also stayed there in the very beginning of the horcrux hunt."

"She's been trying to project me the address, but I can tell she's growing weak. Her magic isn't that strong anymore." As he spoke Harry was conjuring a stag patronus and sending it to the Auror office and Kingsley. **Listen up! We have figured out where Hermione is. The address is 12 Grimmauld Place. We will be apparating there now and I believe back up will be in order. Also, someone contact St Mungo's just in case and get them ready to accept a patient by floo. **

The three of them held on to each other as Harry apparated them right to the doorstep of his godfather's house.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Due to the unsettling incident of having one of my stories unceremoniously removed on here, I will probably be going elsewhere in future. I'll stick around to read, and perhaps will attempt to post as well, but the bulk of my work will most likely be going elsewhere. I will obviously finish posting this story before I go, there's only one chapter left to go after this one. If anyone has any site recommendations please let me know, and once I've decided on my new home, I will post a message on my profile page. I love everyone for the likes, follows and reviews! You all make me a ridiculously happy writer! Oh! Also I'm posting this on mobile since I haven't unpacked my laptop yet, therefore pagebreaks are wonky. **

Ron had decided Hermione was too weak to fight back and had released her from the ceiling. Her hands were still bound-he wasn't taking that chance-but at least she no longer felt like her arms were being pulled from their sockets, which really was only a small joy for every part of her body throbbed and burned with pain. He had raped her again and when she didn't even make the slightest attempt to acknowledge what was happening to her he had become enraged.

"At least when you begged and pleaded or fought back, you were still present!" He had screamed at her. "Now it just feels like I'm fucking a corpse!" She felt him wrench himself out of her, her body singing with relief despite the agony. "Is that how the Ferret likes it? With your eyes blank and staring into space? Prefers to imagine he's putting it in someone attractive, not a bushy haired, mudblood, slut does he?" Hermione ignored the taunts and stared resolutely at the ceiling, not really seeing and he kicked her in the ribs.

_No! He hasn't bothered with my torso since he kidnapped me! Not now! _Her mind screamed suddenly and she used what little strength she had to try and curl to protect her midsection. Blow after blow landed on her body as he kicked and punched any part of her he could get to while screaming obscenities; Her ribs, her kidneys, her shoulder blades. It felt like all her bones were shattering and after what felt like hours, he finally stopped and stormed down the stairs. It was then that she noticed the feeling of something warm and sticky between her thighs and knew that she was bleeding. _He's done it. _She thought sobbing, crumpled in a heap on the floor. _I'm miscarrying I know I am. _There was no point in fighting it anymore, and she longed to succumb to her injuries to stop the pain. Her consciousness was fading with the loss of blood, she was slipping away, her vision going black. There was scuffling noises and she was sure Ron had returned to finish her off, at least her mind recalled Draco's voice calling her name. _At least I can hear him one last time, s_he thought as she blacked out into unconsciousness.

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Draco held his finger to his lips signalling the others to be quiet as they slowly opened the door to Grimmauld Place. Instantly the smell of mold assaulted their noses and Pansy stifled a gag. He stepped into the house after the other two were inside and silently cast a charm that wouldn't allow anyone to apparate out, only in. They tiptoed down the hallway and heard a chair scrape the floor in the kitchen and, wands drawn, they made their way further inside the house. As previously agreed Pansy and Harry moved towards the kitchen to confront Ron, and Draco set off in search of Hermione. His foot had barely reached the landing on his way to the second floor, when he heard the unmistakeable sounds of duelling in the kitchen. _Harry is an Auror, and Pansy is a very accomplished dueller. They will take care of him, I need to get to Hermione! _He thought. He didn't know why he automatically knew to go upstairs but it was as if her magical signature was calling to him. Slowly he pushed open the door to the first bedroom on the left.

"Hermione!"

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Pansy, Ron and Harry were only duelling for what felt like seconds when the Aurors began apparating into the house. Realizing he was outnumbered Ron attempted to apparate away only to realize what Draco had done.

"I'm not going back! I can't!" He screamed before turning his wand on himself.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry cried but it was too late. With a flash of green light, Harry's mouth gaped open as the lifeless form of his former best friend slumped to the floor.

"Hermione!" Draco's anguished cry carried down to them in the sudden silence.

Taking the stairs two at a time, Harry, Pansy and Kingsley ran towards the sound of Draco's voice while the remaining Aurors prepared to remove Ron's body from the house. Bursting through the door they all stopped dead at the sight in front of them. Draco was kneeling in a pool of blood, cradling Hermione's head in his lap and sobbing.

"We're too late!" He wailed clutching her to him as if he was afraid she would float away. Pansy stared at her best friend and felt tears prickle her eyes at his pain.

"Wait!" She suddenly yelled. "Harry get a floo to St. Mungo's ready! Right now!" She said running to kneel at Hermione and Draco's side and snatching the woman's tiny wrist as Harry did as he was told.

"What are you doing Pansy?" Draco sobbed.

"I saw her chest move Draco. She's still alive, only just." She grabbed his hand and pressed his fingers to Hermione's wrist. "See? She has a pulse! It's faint but it's there!"

"They're ready for her, let's go!" Harry yelled from behind them and Draco immediately scooped her into his arms and ran through the flames, closely followed by Harry, Pansy and Kingsley.

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Draco paced the waiting room at St. Mungo's while Pansy looked on. Kingsley and Harry had had to go back to the Ministry to deal with Ron's body and notifying his family and she had decided to stay with Draco after sending a quick patronus to Astoria to let her know what was going on.

"It's been hours Pans!" He snapped. "Why haven't I been updated?" He slunk down onto the couch beside her and put his head in his hands.

"They're working on her, that's why. Sometimes, no news can be good news too." She said wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

"What if we were too late? What if they can't save her?" He said looking up at her, his grey eyes piercing hers. "There was so much blood…"

"They'll save her Draco. They have the best healers in the place on her case."

The waiting room doors opened and a healer made his way towards them. Draco and Pansy jumped off the couch as if it was on fire. "Please tell me she is okay?" He pleaded to the man in front of him.

"She's alive yes, we have had to place her into a medical coma while our charms heal her broken bones and internal bleeding. Normally we would have just injected her with an intravenous version of Skele-grow since there were so many fractures, but given her condition it would have been unsafe, and as it is we are unsure the baby will survive with the trauma she's undergone."

"The…wait….what?" He stammered, suddenly feeling like he needed to sit down. Sensing this, the healer conjured a chair directly under Draco as his knees gave out.

"Hermione is pregnant?" Pansy inquired incredulously as she placed a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Yes, she is." The healer paused. "We don't know for sure that we can save the baby. We managed to stop the bleeding and hopefully stave off what had appeared to be the start of a miscarriage but…"He paused again and Draco's steel grey eyes bore into the man's. "Given how early it is in her pregnancy, it might not have worked. Our primary concern is trying to save Miss Granger's life." Draco nodded numbly. "We will let you know more once we have more to go on Mr. Malfoy." The healer went back through the doors and Pansy and Draco returned to their couch, vanishing the temporary chair as they went.

"Mr. Malfoy?" Draco jerked awake. He had clearly fallen asleep out of sheer exhaustion and his head had dropped onto Pansy's shoulder, who was now also awake at the sound of the healer's voice. _I will have to do something to show my appreciation for her being here when we make it through this. _He thought idly as they awaited what the healer had to say. "Miss Granger is stable and will most likely be waking soon. We thought you would like to be there when she did." Draco jumped up nearly sending Pansy flying to the floor.

"Of course! Where is she?" He stopped and a dark expression crossed his pale face. "Wait…did the…" He took a deep breath steeling himself to receive the answer before asking. "Did the baby survive?"

"When we checked this morning, there is still a faint life force. Unfortunately it'll be a while before we can make any guarantees. Even after Miss Granger goes home, we may not know what will happen. I'm sorry I can't give you a more definitive answer." Draco nodded solemnly. "I think it's best if it's just you at first Mr. Malfoy, otherwise she might be overwhelmed."

"It's okay Draco." Pansy said standing to face him. "Go. Be with your witch. I'm going to head back to the manor. If you need me, send a patronus and I will be there straight away." She kissed his cheek and he wrapped her in a tight embrace.

"I wouldn't have survived all of this without you." He whispered in her ear. She smiled at him as she pulled away giving his hand a reassuring squeeze before turning and disappearing.

"Here we are, room 232. I'll leave you to go in and sit with her." The healer said before departing, leaving Draco standing in the opening to Hermione's hospital room. Taking a deep breath he walked towards her bed where she was still sleeping soundly. She looked better than she had when he found her. Some colour had returned to her skin where it wasn't covered in bruises and she no longer looked like the recipient of a stinging jynx. He gingerly placed her hand in his as he sunk into a chair beside her bed. Content to just hold her hand and stare at the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed-a reminder that she was in fact alive-he didn't notice the flutter of her eyes slowly opening.

"Draco?" Her voice was barely more than a whisper. He squeezed her hand gently, blinking away the tears in his eyes. She needed him to be strong right now.

"Yes love, I'm here."

"Wh-where am I? Wh-where is he? Where's Ronald?" She made to sit bolt upright panic in her voice.

"Shhh, love lay back down it's okay, you're okay!" He said guiding her back down to her pillows. "You're at St. Mungo's and as for Weasley-" he paused- "Hermione, love, he's dead." He watched as her body visibly relaxed for a moment and her eyes closed. For a second he thought she might fall back to sleep, only to realize it was her savouring the new information. Suddenly she tensed and her eyes flew open.

"Draco…I…"She choked on a sob. He tried to shush her again, not wanting her to get worked up and upset but she just shook her head tears sliding down her cheeks. "I was pregnant." She finished looking into his eyes with such pain that he thought his heart might break for her.

"I know love." He answered softly, gently wiping away her tears. "But the correct phrase would be 'I AM pregnant.'" He corrected her with a little smile.

Hermione stared open mouthed, the hand that Draco wasn't holding coming to rest subconsciously on her stomach. "How can that be?" She whispered.

"The healers. They worked tirelessly to try and save you and our baby." He liked the way that sounded. Our baby. Clearly she did too, as a smile slowly graced her lips. He frowned as he looked at her, the love and happiness clearly etched there. He didn't want to have to ruin it. "I should tell you love, they still aren't positive that-" Draco trailed off. He didn't know how to say this, he didn't know how to shatter her happiness after what she'd just gone through.

"-the baby will make it to term." She finished for him. Hermione sighed. "That makes sense. I only found out about the baby the day-" She paused taking a deep breath- "The day he kidnapped me. The baby isn't far enough along for guarantees even under the best circumstances. I thought for sure with all the blood-" She trailed off again turning her head to stare into Draco's eyes. "How did you find me?"

To her shock and awe, Draco informed her about Harry Potter's help and how as soon as he mentioned Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, her wandless magic had washed over him. He also filled her in on that which she hadn't been conscious for and how Ron had Avada'd himself to avoid going back to Azkaban. When he was finished she didn't say anything right away, just stared at him open mouthed.

"So, let me get this straight." She said finally. "Harry showed up in our floo to tell you he loved me and yet set me up, and you somehow managed not to hex him into oblivion? I admire your restraint my love." She said with a small giggle as she stroked his cheek. "I suppose he'll be expecting me to forgive him n-" She never finished the thought as suddenly there was a commotion outside her hospital room, and a bunch of flying red hair came running into the room with shouts that sounded an awful lot like threats to hex the hospital staff if they got in her way. Recognizing the hair instantly as that of Ginevra Weasley, Hermione groaned but grabbed Draco's wrist as he went to stand. "It's okay." She whispered as her former friend made her way to her side.

"Hermione! Harry's just told me!" She said as three healers and a security wizard came running in behind her.

"It's okay! You can let her in!" Hermione called to them as loudly as she could before they came in and arrested the youngest Weasley. Slowly the healers and security turned and left with mutters under their breath. "What are you doing here Ginevra?" The other girl winced at the use of her formal name.

"I-I heard wh-what…what my brother did to you and I couldn't not come see you 'Mione." Tears were running down her face now and Draco fought his urge to hex her into oblivion.

"You haven't cared about her in more than a decade. Why now?" He asked, disdain evident in his voice. To his surprise a look of shame crossed her features.

"I know. I'm just awful. I'm so sorry 'Mione. I was just so jealous! I mean, my own husband wanted you, was in love with you. I couldn't bare it and I blamed you. I wanted to believe that you somehow seduced him, not that he came to you willingly and the way Ron told it-"

"I don't care what Ronald told you!" Hermione burst out suddenly. "I have been punished for over a decade because of what your husband did. I lost my best friends, I lost my husband to alcohol, and then I almost lost my life at his hands! I may still lose the life of my unborn child because of him. I do not wish to hear your excuses. Thank your husband for his part in rescuing me, and then kindly get the hell out of my life."

"Hermione I-" She sobbed. "I miss you! I'm sorry! Please let's start over, I know you and Draco are happy, you just said you're pregnant! You'll need a girlfriend who has experience with kids and I'm not worried about you and Harry anym-" She stopped talking at the glower she was receiving from the aforementioned blonde.

"I believe she asked you to leave in no uncertain terms Mrs. Potter. Kindly do that before I am forced to call security." He paused as the redhead opened and closed her mouth like a fish. "And as for girlfriends with child experience, she does not in fact require you for that. She has Pansy Parkinson, and my ex-wife Astoria for that, and seeing as I already happen to have a son, whatever she is unsure about I will be able to assist." He added coldly.

"M-'Mione do you really want me to leave?" The tears were streaming down Ginny Potter's face now and Hermione didn't even bother to look at her.

"Yes. And my name is Hermione not 'Mione, now kindly get out before I allow Draco to hex you."

"Are you alright love?" Draco asked sinking back down into his chair after the redhead had stormed out.

"Yes. Frankly I feel much better for having done that. She came because she felt guilty, not because she was truly sorry. I don't need false friends." Hermione sighed. "Besides, the last thing I want in my life right now are Weasleys. After the horrors Ronald just put me through, I will be quite content if I never have to look upon that horrendous shade of red hair again." Though it was clearly an attempt at a joke, Draco saw the ghost of something in her eyes.

"Love, I will never pressure you to talk about what happened in that house, though based on the injuries you were admitted with I have some idea-" He paused trying to push the rage out of his voice. She didn't need to hear that just now. "If you ever want to talk about it, I'll always listen." Her small hand reached up and cupped his face and she smiled.

"Draco, believe me I do not wish to discuss it. It will take time for me to be okay again, but I will be. I have you and wherever you are I know I am safe." She leaned up and kissed him chastely. "Besides, didn't you say the coward killed himself when faced with the Auror department?" He nodded. "Good. Now, let's not talk about it anymore shall we?"

Draco grinned at her and kissed the knuckles of the hand he held. "You are possibly the toughest witch I have ever known." He said admiringly. "Change of subject then my love?" Now it was her turn to nod. "I assume when you were notified you were with child they gave you a timeline of conception?" Hermione nodded again, a small smile quirking her lips. "Well? Because I cannot think of a time where we did not cast a contraception charm, and though I am quite happy to have a child with you, I am confounded as to how it happened."

"Ah, I thought you would never ask."

"Are you going to tell me or just allow me to stew?" He asked smiling.

"I do believe a combination of elf-made wine, Firewhiskey, jazz music, a lack of knickers, and a pool table may have been involved." She watched him ponder before sudden realization kicked in.

"The gala!" He exclaimed. "Good lord, our child wasn't even conceived in a bed…"

Laughing lightly she shook her head, gently as it was still quite sore. "No Draco they were not, and we shall just have to pray they never ask."


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I have signed up for AO3 under the name Villainshavemorefun and will be predominantly posting there from now on. Here is the final chapter of this. Thank you all so so so much for the reviews and follows! Again posting this from Mobile so line breaks are problematic.**

"No! Stop! Please no!" Hermione thrashed around, twisted in sheets and blankets, soaked in a cold sweat.

"Hermione, wake up! Come on love! You're safe!" Draco was saying loudly having woken up at the sound of terrified pleading from his witch's side of the bed, not to mention her thrashing legs had kicked him right in the shin. He had grabbed her shoulders and was shaking her gently trying to bring her out of her nightmare and slowly her movements subsided as her eyes fluttered open. "There we are love, come here." He enveloped her in his arms, her tears soaking the light fuzz of his chest. It had been almost a month since they had returned home from the hospital after spending two weeks there so the baby could be observed, and her nightmares were still plaguing her on a nightly basis. The healers had warned them she would most likely experience some Post Traumatic symptoms, especially since she had gone through other traumas in the past as well, and had prescribed a pregnancy safe calming draught. Hermione tried not to use it just in case, and only resorted to it on the nights where Draco hadn't been able to soothe her. Still spluttering and breathing heavy with her sobs, he tightened his hold on her and traced circles on her back over her t-shirt. "It's okay love you're here. I've got you." He kissed her curls and inhaled the scent of her as she slowly calmed and drifted back to sleep.

During the day Hermione coped well, especially when they spent time with Scorpius, but as soon as night fell and she tried to relax her thoughts and experiences overwhelmed her. Most nights after waking from the nightmares, she didn't talk, just absorbed his comfort and calmly fell back to sleep. Draco much preferred those to the nights that she would hyperventilate, terrified, unable to calm down without a draught and seemed to barely even register his presence. Those nights made him feel completely useless and it broke his heart knowing he couldn't save her from her own mind.

"Yet another nightmare last night?" Hermione asked the following morning as they laid curled up in bed together, light drifting in through their bedroom window. Kingsley had given them an indefinite leave of absence so they always awoke this way. Draco nodded playing with her curls as she rested her head on his chest. "I really wish I could just make them stop somehow. I hate that he is in my head."

"One day they will. It'll take time love." He pressed his lips to her forehead. Hermione trailed her fingertips through the light fuzz on Draco's chest and he fought to ignore the arousal it elicited within him. They hadn't made love since before her kidnapping, and he sure as hell wasn't going to push her. She would come to him when she was ready and for now he would just be patient, but it definitely wasn't easy when her delicate fingers toyed with his chest hair, and her breath was teasing his skin. Her fingernail grazed his nipple accidentally and his breath hitched involuntarily causing her to quickly move her hand away.

"I-I'm sorry Draco." She said anxiousness present in her voice that told him she had an idea of what he had been thinking.

He gently tilted her chin up so she was looking into his eyes. "Please, do not apologize to me love."

"But-" She tried to interrupt but Draco placed a finger to her lips.

"It is no secret that your touch, however unintentional it may be, arouses me. It always has and always will, but I am also a patient man and do not want you to think I would ever pressure you. I know you will come to me when you are ready." He smiled and pressed a light kiss to her lips. Hermione sighed.

"You may be patient Draco, and I have never once felt pressured by you, but I still feel awful. I feel like I am somehow punishing you for his actions." She paused and he stroked her cheek. "I-I still want you, just as much as before, I just-"

"Hermione, you do not have to justify it to me love. If you aren't ready, you aren't ready. I would have been surprised if you had been to be honest."

She chewed her bottom lip seemingly thinking hard about something and Draco decided to let her work through whatever it was in her head before she told him. "Do you think-" She paused scrunching up her face. He thought she looked adorable when she did that, but urged her to continue. Clearly whatever she wanted to say was both important and difficult for her. "Merlin, this should not be so hard!" He tried not to acknowledge that her frustration was cute, and just kept waiting for her to make her point and when she did it came out in one breath. "Doyouthinktonightcouldbethenightthatwemakelove?" She then proceeded to hide her face in his armpit. Draco couldn't help it, a small laugh escaped him. "Now you're laughing at me." She said in a rather muffled pouty voice. He attempted to get her to look at him, but she wouldn't budge so he spoke to her hair instead.

"I was most definitely not laughing at you love. I laughed because it was completely adorable the way you asked that and because you then hid your face in my armpit of all places! Now, can I see your face please?" He implored her and was met with her chocolate orbs peering up at him. "I guess that'll do." He stroked her hair. "I would love to make love to you any time you want me to if that is what you desire, but I don't want you to do it because you feel bad or like you are disappointing me." She silently shook her head no to let him know that wasn't at all why she had asked. "Good. Then if that's what you desire, I will not deny you and should you change your mind, all you have to do is tell me okay?" Hermione nodded and readjusted herself so her head rested on his chest again and she was cuddled against him.

That night after dinner, Draco ran Hermione a bath in the spare room bathtub since it was a soaker tub rather than a jacuzzi, complete with calming bath oil-inhaling the scent would make one feel slightly more relaxed the bottle claimed- and floating candles that he had conjured for her.

"This is lovely Draco." She said as she entered the room at his request.

"I want you to soak as long as you would like, I will be waiting for you in our bedroom whenever you're finished." He kissed her forehead and made to leave the room.

"Wait!" He stopped and looked at her waiting for her to continue. "I uh, just want to get something from the bedroom before you go in there." She finished and he quirked an eyebrow. "Just wait here okay?" He nodded and she scurried off to find what she was looking for. Within moments she had returned with her fluffy robe and Draco took that as his cue to depart the room.

Once Hermione was sure Draco was gone, she unfolded the robe to reveal what she had really gone to get; a Slytherin green silk corset style top with black lace details on the cups, and a matching thong. She stripped off and waved her wand to lock the bathroom door-she didn't want Draco to come in and ruin the surprise-before sinking into the luxuriously warm bath he had drawn her. She felt her muscles relax instantly, and the anxiousness she had been feeling ebbed away. _I don't know why I'm so nervous_. She thought. _It isn't like I'm a virgin. _Her hands rested automatically on her stomach. It felt slightly rounder than she was used to. _For Merlin's sake, I'm carrying his child and I'm nervous to make love with him? How ridiculous. _She chided herself as she continued to soak away her tensions.

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While Hermione soaked in the bath, Draco was busy with part two of his plan. He wanted tonight to be special, and as stress free for her as possible. This was a big step for her, and somehow he felt it was an even bigger one than their very first time. He had conjured the same candles from her bath, and set them around the room, and had jazz playing softly in the background. Smiling to himself he also transfigured the bed sheets to be a Gryffindor red silk, knowing it would amuse her and put her at ease. On his bedside table, he lit a special vanilla scented candle he had purchased some time ago, but never used. It was designed so the wax melted into massage oil, and maintained a pleasant warm temperature that was not too hot for the skin.

Draco had just finished the final touches of the room when he heard footsteps approaching the door and smiled as she knocked to ask permission to enter.

"Come in love." He said sitting on the edge of the bed. He was shirtless, but wearing a pair of grey track pants. The door creaked open slowly as Hermione entered the room and as soon as he saw her he felt himself harden with arousal. "Holy Merlin Hermione you look…" He trailed off as she approached him. The corset pushed her breasts up just enough so the mounds were spilling over the top, practically begging to be touched and he eyed her with intense longing.

"You like?" She asked as she slowly spun around. Draco's mouth was suddenly dry and forming words seemed impossible so he just nodded and reached out to grasp her hips, pulling her to him gently. She smelled like flowers and candy and something distinctly Hermione and he felt like he could get drunk just on the scent of her alone. Slowly he lowered his lips to one of the perfect, milky white mounds in front of him and as they touched her skin she gasped, a flush beginning to creep across her chest already. He repeated the action on her right breast while slowly bringing his hands to the clasps in the back and beginning to undo them. Moments later it had fallen at their feet and he held her breasts in his hands.

Hermione's breathing was heavy and her breasts heaved as her chest rose and fell and for minutes he just watched them, watched her, in the candle light; His hands holding her, thumbs rubbing in circles over her flesh. "Lay down love." He said quietly, guiding her into position and reaching for the candle beside him. "Close your eyes." And she did. She closed her eyes in a display of total trust with her back exposed to him as she lay on her stomach, not yet unable to do so.

When he poured the oil it was first into the dip between her shoulder blades and she uttered a delectable little moan at the warmth of it, followed by a contented sigh as he poured more in the dip above her bum and began to move his hands through the oil, and over her skin.

"Draco…" She said his name like a sigh and his cock twitched at the sound, but this was about her and he could wait. He massaged her until the last bits of tension that had remained after her soak were gone and when he brought his mouth to her neck she mewled at the contact, rolling over so he could have better access. Suckling and lathing with his tongue he explored the curve of her neck, the angles of her collar bone, the dip between her breasts and plundered her mouth until her breathing was ragged with want.

Only then, did he take a pink nipple into his mouth, and her hands gripped his back. Draco nipped and felt her involuntarily buck her hips towards him. Smiling against her flesh he continued his assault on her breasts alternating between the two until Hermione was panting, breathless with need, and writhing wildly beneath him. He was almost tempted to find out if he could bring her just from teasing her breasts.

Agonizingly slowly he trailed kisses and licks down her body, dipping his tongue into her navel and eliciting a breathy moan from his witch's throat. He caressed her legs with his hands as well as his mouth coming close to where he knew she wanted him, without obliging her.

"Draco…please…I-I need you!" She gasped as he once again approached the apex of her thighs and she fisted her hands in his hair. He could see the arousal pooled in the fabric of her panties and lapped at her through the fabric making her legs twitch. He flattened his tongue and swiped the fabric again, and again felt her legs convulsively twitch on either side of him. Her back was bowed and she was desperately trying to press herself against him bucking her hips and groaning in frustration as he pulled away from her. Grinning to himself as he took in the flush covering her body and the desire in her eyes when she opened them to watch him, he hooked his fingers in the band of her thong and began guiding it down her legs until it was discarded like the corset. Draco could see the glistening of her arousal and the small patch of curls that was soaked with her wetness.

Capturing her lips and sliding his tongue into her mouth he slipped his fingers inside her curling as he moved in and out. Hermione moaned into his mouth as she nipped and sucked his tongue and bottom lip. His back burned slightly from the scratches she was leaving as she gripped him with her nails. When he began to feel her inner walls clenching, he removed his fingers and she practically sobbed with the loss of him.

"Draco..." It was a plea. A desperate sound of desire and it made him long to bury himself inside her, balls deep, but he knew he couldn't just yet. This night was about her, reminding her that he would never hurt her, and would only provide pleasure with his touches. He extracted himself from her lips and made his way back down her body, nipping and suckling as she bucked and moaned beneath him.

He spread her with his nose and Hermione groaned at the contact before chanting his name like a mantra as he began lathing her clit with his tongue. Draco wanted Hermione to know that he worshipped her, and he lapped and suckled and swirled his tongue inside her collecting all her juices; revelling in the taste of her. It wasn't long before her repetitions of his name became less coherent and he knew she was about to fall over the edge. Sucking her swollen nub into his mouth he plunged his fingers inside of her and was instantly met with the clenching of her walls and a guttural cry of his name filling the room.

As Hermione caught her breath, Draco divested himself of his track pants and climbed back between her legs. "I love you Hermione." He whispered in her ear as he lined himself up with her opening. Suckling her neck, he slid inside her slow but deep.

"Oh..Oh Dra-draco!" She cried as he buried himself inside of her, wrapping her legs around his hips and clutching at him with her nails. "I-I love you t-too!"

It took every ounce of his self-control not to spill himself inside her within the first few thrusts. She was so warm, and wet and her clenching walls felt like they were milking him.

"Hermione…" He groaned her name, his face against her neck as he moved inside her. She was meeting him thrust for thrust with her hips and keening in pleasure. He was surprised he could move at all with how tightly she had wrapped herself around him as they moved together and when she broke apart again, screaming his name, he was right behind her calling out hers.

Hermione and Draco lay together, a tangled mess of arms and legs having fallen asleep almost immediately after their lovemaking. The sun was streaming in the window and slowly bringing them to wakefulness.

"Good morning love." He said smiling and pressing a kiss to the top of her head, inhaling the scent of her curls. She stretched, reminding him of a cat and almost lazily said good morning in return. Suddenly her eyes flew open and she sat bolt upright. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" He sounded panicked as he sat up with her. Turning to look at him she grinned, a wide Cheshire cat kind of grin that told him she was more than alright.

"Draco! I didn't have any nightmares!" Within seconds she had pushed him back down and was straddling his lap raining kisses on his face and chest.

"Really?" He tried to sit up against her assault but to no avail, and flopped back down. "That's great love!" She kissed him hard on the lips before climbing off of him to settle once again with her head on his chest.

"Your lovemaking works better than a calming draught." She laughed, "Now I know what our bedtime routine will be for the foreseeable future!"

Draco kissed her curls once more before he answered. "If that is what you need, I will most definitely provide."

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As time went on and weeks turned into months, and months to years, Draco and Hermione had settled in together nicely. They were close still with Astoria and Pansy who married the same year Hermione gave birth to their daughter Amelie, and spent many occasions together as a big family. They bought a house close to the manor so as to be closer to Scorpius, and got married in their own backyard.

Hermione never did become friends with the Potters again, nor any of the other Weasleys. She was quite content to be the "lioness in the snake pit" as Draco jokingly described her and would not have wanted things any other way.

The End


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